The draw was released yesterday for the 10-team tournament which will run from November 9 to 24 at venues in the Caribbean.
New Zealand is in group B with three-time champion Australia, India, Pakistan and qualifier 2, while defending champion the West Indies is in group A along with England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and qualifier 1.
The top two sides from each group of five will advance to the semifinals.
The Netherlands will host the qualifying tournament next month when Bangladesh, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Thailand, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and the home team compete for the final two group slots.
All the World Twenty20 matches will be broadcast live and DRS will be used in an ICC World T20 event for the first time.
White Ferns coach Haidee Tiffen is thrilled to being playing India in the opening game of the tournament.
''They are a team that has really developed and are playing some really exciting cricket, but so are we,'' Tiffen said.
''It is a good time for the women's game and T20 has certainly been the focus over the last few months.''
The White Ferns are competing in a tri-series with South Africa and England in the United Kingdom.
''We've seen in this series it has been a bit of a runfest but it may not be like that in the West Indies; we're unsure.
''But the best teams in the world will certainly adapt and assess those conditions quickly and play accordingly [while] still trying to play an entertaining form of cricket.''
White Ferns captain Suzie Bates said the team's firm goal was to make the semifinals and to play its best cricket in the knockout stage.
''We always go to those tournaments thinking we can do really well,'' Bates said.
''We have a really explosive line-up and in India [in 2016] I thought we played really good cricket but got beaten by the eventual winners Windies in the semis.''
