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In exchange, India is requesting that Indians who work in Britain for short stretches — such as tech workers there on short-term projects – should be exempted from social security payments. Currently, Indians there for short stays have to make social security payments that they lose if they’re not there for a minimum number of years.
A trickier issue is that India also wants legal assurances about rules regarding Indian students in the UK. Under tough new rules introduced by Britain’s hardline Home Secretary Suella Braverman, students won’t be allowed to have family members accompanying them during their studies. Braverman is also trying to shorten the time students are allowed to stay on in Britain after they complete their courses.
India and the UK have held 13 rounds of trade talks and UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch was in India last week to help unravel some of knottier issues that still remain and which are inevitably left to the last in such negotiations.
Badenoch insists that easing visa restrictions and access to the labour market are not a part of the trade talks. “Actually, visas and visa liberalisation don’t come within free-trade agreements. It’s an immigration issue, which is dealt with by our Home Office,” Badenoch said.
India levies import duties of between 70 per cent and 100 per cent on automobile imports and proposes to bring this down to 10 per cent over a five-year period, according to The Times. India is one of the world’s most protected automobile markets globally so cutting duties would have a considerable impact on the market.
