India's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the United Kingdom enters into force today, and most of the coverage will lead with the 99 percent duty-free access on tariff lines. The more interesting instrument arrived beside it. The Double Contribution Convention exempts Indian professionals on temporary UK assignments (five years, extended from three) from paying into Britain's National Insurance while they continue to contribute at home. The report in India Briefing pegs the annual saving at roughly USD 500 million, covering 90 to 95 percent of Indian professionals sent through Indian employers. That number matters less than the frame. India's largest single export is not steel or leather; it is people-hours priced in foreign currency. Tariff talk fixates on goods, but the real friction in services trade has always been a payroll wedge: mandatory contributions the visiting worker never gets to draw down. Neutralising that wedge inside a trade treaty is a subtler innovation than any tariff schedule, and probably a more durable one. The next FTA worth watching is the one that repeats this move.
#CETA #IndiaUKTrade #DCC #ServicesTrade #FreeTradeAgreement #GlobalMobility #SocialSecurity
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