Arun Jaitley, the finance minister has pushed the US administration to start a process which will help contributions from Indians to the country’s exchequer by way of social security to be returned and not retained in an unfair manner.

Jaitley has stated that this is like an aid program which is meant to help Indian workers run for the US government. Jaitley further added during his speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies that the demographic transition of India is: opportunities for partnership.

Based on research done by Jacob Kirkegaard at the Peterson Institute, Indians contribute around $3 billion every year to the US government. This is done by the way of social security contributions. Jaitley has stated that this money is never received back by the Indians.

Jaitley accordingly wanted the US to change what is formally called the totalisation regime. He stated that he is confident that the US will soon take up the matter. He called the present arrangement a “very unjust situation”.

As per Indian law, Indian workers who are posted to foreign countries by their Indian employers for short periods of time continue to make social security contribution in India.

Image Credit: World Economic Forum from Cologny, Switzerland / CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Source: Arun Jaitley

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arun_Jaitley_at_the_India_Economic_Summit_2010_cropped.jpg