India Pushes Overseas Employment Deals Amid Growing Anti-Immigration Sentiment
India-West News Desk
NEW DELHI – India is expanding labor mobility agreements with countries across Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region as the government seeks to create employment opportunities for its growing workforce and sustain remittance inflows, even as anti-immigration sentiment gains momentum in several destination countries.
According to a CNBC report by Priyanka Salve published in the network’s ‘Inside India’ newsletter, New Delhi has increasingly incorporated labor mobility provisions into trade and bilateral agreements with countries including New Zealand, Finland, members of the European Union, Russia and Israel. The strategy reflects the government’s effort to secure overseas employment opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled Indian workers amid persistent domestic employment challenges.
India, home to one of the world’s largest working-age populations, continues to face an unemployment rate of around 5% to 6%, with underemployment significantly raising the effective rate, experts told CNBC.
“If we add under-employed people, the rate jumps up alarmingly,” Jayant Krishna, senior fellow and chair on India and Emerging Asia Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told CNBC. “By placing skilled and semi-skilled workers in overseas markets, India manages the aspirations of our ever-expanding working-age population.”
India also remains the world’s largest recipient of remittances, with money sent home by overseas workers accounting for roughly 3% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to the CNBC report.
However, India’s strategy faces increasing political resistance abroad. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to New Zealand, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon praised the Indian community, saying, “You have enriched our country economically, socially and culturally.” The free trade agreement between the two countries, which includes labor mobility provisions, is awaiting parliamentary approval but has drawn opposition from members of Luxon’s coalition government.
Similar concerns have emerged elsewhere. Modi’s recent visit to Australia coincided with anti-India protests, while the United States has tightened visa rules affecting programs such as the H-1B visa, long used by Indian technology professionals.
Ronak D. Desai, visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, told CNBC that India has drawn lessons from the uncertainty surrounding U.S. immigration policy.
“Mobility grounded in treaty is politically far more durable than mobility granted by unilateral visa policy,” Desai said.
India’s approach stands in contrast to China, which has spent the past decade encouraging highly skilled professionals to return home. Experts cited by CNBC said China’s “Haigui” or “returning from across the sea” initiative has helped strengthen its semiconductor, biotechnology and artificial intelligence industries through sustained investment in research and innovation.
India spends about 0.5% of its GDP on research and development, below the global average of 1.7%, limiting its ability to absorb highly skilled talent domestically.
Pramit Chaudhuri, South Asia practice head at Eurasia Group, told CNBC that the Modi government does not currently view the migration of skilled workers as a significant concern.
“Rather, they are choosing to promote it,” he said.
