India-Japan social security agreement to come into force from Oct

The Dollar Business Bureau

The Social Security Agreement (SSA) that has been signed between India and Japan in Tokyo on November 16, 2012 will come into force with effect from this October, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the Agreement the SSA between India and Japan will improve the profitability of both Indian and Japanese companies. This agreement would benefit many skilled workers from India and Japan working in either of the countries and also attract more Japanese firms to invest in India.

The SSA would prevent making double social security contributions. It would exempt the Indian workers who are on a short term contract in Japan, from making social security contribution there, if they are already covered under social security system in India. The SSA also will allow the workers to remit their social security contributions in case they relocate to another third country.

Till now, India has signed bilateral SSAs with 15 different countries that include Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea, Austria, and Australia. SSA with Portugal is still in process while a partial SSA with Germany is already operational.