India for totalisation agreement with US: Sharma

BANGALORE: India on Saturday said it wants an agreement with the US soon under which professionals on short term work visits to America are exempted from paying social security taxes.

"The issue which is one of the priority is totalisation agreement...I remain optimistic that we will be able take it forward with the US," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said at the Infosys campus here.

Under a totalisation agreement, an expatriate in either country need not contribute to social security schemes of the host country.

Sharma would be co-chairing the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) in Washington on September 21 along with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

India has similar agreements with several European countries, he said.

The agreement, which once signed, would benefit lakhs of Indian who are working in America and paying social security but are unable to get any benefit out of it.

He said most of the Indian professionals return home even before the social security benefits kick in.

The minister yesterday said that India has conveyed its serious concern to the US over Ohio's ban on offshore outsourcing of government business and a hike in US visa fees for professionals.