Trump’s trade war, however, won’t see India rushing into a deal with the U.K., India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in London early this month during a key economic dialogue with Chancellor Rachel Reeves. “It is not as if we’re rushing into a U.K. [free trade agreement] because something is done by Trump in the U.S.,” Sitharaman said.
Delhi’s top diplomat in London, Vikram Doraiswami, set out that India is aiming to secure concessions from the U.K. on a so-called “Double Contribution Convention,” allowing firms employing Indians on short-stay visas of up to three years to claw back payments into Britain’s public pension pot.
“Essentially, what we’re really looking for is something that you have with other countries which allows people who are already paying to their pension pots back home in India [to] be exempted for the period of their stay here,” Doraiswami told Times Radio earlier this month, adding “that amount is in negotiation” with the U.K. government.
Carbon border challenges
India has presented “some new concerns that have come up over [the U.K.] carbon tax, which will certainly have some implications for us,” Shashi Tharoor, chair of the Indian parliament’s committee on external affairs, told POLITICO.
The U.K. is currently in talks with the EU to align its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) expected in 2027 with a similar tax in Brussels on high-carbon emission imports like steel, aluminum and cement. The measures would see Indian commodities face steep duties at the border.
Progress to align the systems in London and Brussels is expected at a key U.K.-EU summit on May 19.
