Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed the new avenues for Indian migrants to Britain will “inject new energy” into the UK economy.
Amid growing anti-mass migration sentiment, in the wake of record-breaking years of illegal and legal migration to Britain, Indian PM Modi attempted to sell the benefits of importing more so-called “skilled workers” from India.
Appearing alongside Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London to officially sign a post-Brexit trade deal, which created new carveouts for new work visas for both countries, the Indian leader said that “the UK’s economy would benefit from India’s skilled talent,” The Telegraph reported.
“This will inject new energy into the service sectors of both countries, especially in technology and finance,” Modi said. “It will promote ease of doing business, reduce cost of doing business and increase the confidence of doing business.”
The £25 billion deal has drawn criticism over the agreement on the “double contribution convention”, which will see some migrant workers from India being exempt from paying national insurance contributions in Britain — a secondary income tax — for three years, as they would continue to pay the tax in their homeland. The same would apply to whatever British workers might find themselves in India.
Critics, such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, claimed that this, in combination with the recent hike in national insurance payments from businesses employing workers in Britain, could potentially make it up to 20 per cent cheaper to hire Indian migrants than native Britons.
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said that such claims were “completely false” and suggested that visa costs and the NHS surcharge for migrants would equalise the disparity.
“I would never agree a deal that undercuts the people I represent or grew up with. That is completely wrong,” Reynolds said.
The government also claimed that the trade deal “is not expected to have a long-term impact on net migration”.
However, even prior to the newly inked trade deal between London and New Delhi, Indian migrants have been gaining an advantage over native British workers.
Data from HM Revenue & Customs revealed last year found that between 2019 and 2023, nearly twice as many Indians were hired compared to their British counterparts, with Indians seeing a growth of 487,900 jobs while Britons saw just 257,000 employments during the same time period.
Indian migrant groups in other Western nations, such as the United States, have been accused of establishing nepotistic business networks, which discriminate against the native population in favour of migrants from the subcontinent.
Following the post-Brexit immigration reforms enacted by then PM Boris Johnson — which, rather than fulfilling the democratic demand to cut immigration, dramatically increased immigration– saw migration soar from countries outside of the EU, and in particular from India.
Last year, Indian migrants represented the largest cohort, with nearly 160,000 visas being issued to Indian nationals in 2024. This came in addition to the 250,000 allowed into the country the year prior.
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