For all the political noise surrounding the UK-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA), three months after its implementation, there are limited signs that businesses are factoring the deal into their workforce mobility strategies.

When the trade deal was agreed in May 2025, there was much focus on the accompanying Double Contribution Convention (DCC) that allows “detached” workers moving temporarily between the UK and India to continue paying social security contributions solely to their home country for up to three years.

Critics described the arrangement as a “two-tier tax deal”, arguing that some global employers would prioritise the movement of Indian talent over their British counterparts, due to lower social security costs in India.

Defending the deal, the Labour government highlighted that the UK already operates similar agreements with multiple countries – including Chile, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, the US, and EU – adding that the DCC is a reciprocal arrangement that also benefits British workers.

More than a year on from the deal’s signing, and around three months since the DCC entered into force in July, the focus is now on how businesses have utilised the agreement. 

“There is a sense of anticipation around what the UK-India trade agreement could mean for mobility, although it is still early days. The commercial momentum is clearly building, and as businesses begin to turn those opportunities into investment and growth, I would expect the movement of people to follow,” BDO’s David Yewdall tells GML.

“What makes this particularly interesting from a mobility perspective is that the framework is now there to support that growth. The DCC removes some of the social security cost and complexity associated with qualifying temporary assignments, so businesses have one less barrier to consider when deciding whether to deploy people between the UK and India.” 

Eversheds Sutherland’s Richard Johnson notes that there has been increasing interest from businesses contemplating overseas assignments. 

“The relaxation of potential double taxation has resulted in the re-running of the cost benefit analysis of sending employees between the UK and India, which is a positive thing,” he explains. 

“At this early stage, we have seen more businesses assessing current deployments, than we have businesses taking the decision to make new deployments, but I would anticipate that will change with time.”

Last week, a UK trade mission to India, led by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, announced a package of new investments worth more than £1bn to Britain’s economy. This includes new aviation contracts, semiconductor cooperation, and technology investment, bringing the total value of deals announced since the FTA was signed to nearly £12bn.

“Our trade deal with India opened the door, and now regional businesses are walking through it with our northern mayors leading the way in building partnerships to drive jobs, investment, and growth back home,” Reynolds said. “This billion-pound trade mission will deepen ties with one of the world’s fastest-growing economies to bring opportunity to every postcode.”   

Among the most significant deals is a 15-year ground handling licence secured by UK aviation firm Menzies Aviation at Bengaluru’s cargo facility, a contract expected to generate more than £600m and support over 1,000 jobs. 

Pune-based Meta for Data Technologies has also announced a £50m investment in AI, data research, and quantum computing facilities in Greater London and Manchester, creating around 500 high-skilled roles.

Meanwhile, Oxford Nanopore signed a memorandum of understanding with India’s BRIC Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics to establish a new centre for excellence in Hyderabad, expanding opportunities for joint research and innovation. UK-based Panakeia is also expanding into India, with its AI-driven breast cancer diagnostic technology.

“The recent trade mission feels significant rather than simply routine,” Yewdall says. “It suggests businesses are actively looking at how they can make use of the opportunities created by the agreement. Commercial investment tends to create a need for people, skills, and expertise to move with it, and the FTA and DCC should make it easier for businesses to do that.”

While all tangible examples of investment and job creation, Johnson says it remains too early to determine how much of this activity can be attributed directly to the FTA itself rather than the broader UK-India economic relationship.

“Trade missions are always trumpeted by governments as deepening ties, and promoting growth and investment between the UK and its trading partners. In that sense, they can be viewed as a positive sign of the UK’s growth ambitions. [But] often, trade missions do not actually amount to a step change in existing trade relations, [although] they are definitely a positive signal of ongoing efforts to strengthen those relations,” he says.

Yewdall, however, is more confident about what the current trajectory points toward. “We may not yet be seeing a dramatic change in mobility volumes right now, but I think there is every reason to anticipate increased activity,” he offers.

“For me, the next 12 to 18 months will be particularly interesting as we start to see whether this commercial momentum translates into increased assignments and other forms of cross-border mobility.”