Australia Invites Indian IT Employees, Chefs, Students: 4-Year Work Visa, On-Site Job, Intra-Company Transfers!

India and Australia have signed the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (IndAus ECTA).

Overview

This is an economic cooperation and trade agreement which will, among other things, facilitate the exchange of students, professionals and tourists.

It will also help expand work, study and travel opportunities between the two countries.

PM Modi called it a “watershed moment for bilateral relations” and that it would help increase the resilience of supply chains, and also contribute to the stability of the Indo-Pacific region.

Significance To Australia

The deal is important to Australia which is looking to reduce its dependence on its biggest trading partner China.

The deal with India gets rid of tariffs on more than 85% of Australian goods exports to India, worth A$12.6 billion.

Indian Industry Gains

Australian exports to India are more concentrated in raw materials and intermediate products.

Many industries in India will get cheaper raw materials and become more competitive especially in sectors like steel, aluminium, power, engineering etc.

Significance To India

For India, the ECTA with Australia is the first agreement with a large developed world economy after over a decade.

There is strategic significance since both countries are part of the Quad and partners in the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI).

Major traditional Indian exports, such as textiles and apparel, select agriculture and marine products, leather, footwear, furniture, gems and jewellery, pharma and engineering products, etc will also benefit immensely thanks to immediate market access at zero duty from day one of the deal coming into force.

‘People To People’ Relations

Coming to the soft power implications or what PM Modi calls ‘people to people’ relations, India gets commercially meaningful offers from Australia in several service sectors too.

• Contractual Service Providers

Annual quota of 1,800 Indian traditional chefs and yoga teachers entering Australia as contractual service suppliers- temporary entry and stay  for them is permissible for up to four years with a possibility of further stay.

• Students

Around one lakh Indian students can get post-study work visas which will be given on a reciprocal basis.

This will provide eligible Indian graduates, postgraduates and STEM specialists extended options for working in Australia.

Under the agreement provisions, students can stay for up to a period of four years.

• Indian IT Talent

Movement of IT professionals with specialised talent from India to Australia to enhance the latter’s startup ecosystem.

Large Indian IT companies can increase their involvement in Australian government projects.

Union minister Piyush Goyal who signed the pact also said that it will create one million jobs.

Significance To Indian IT Industry

There is something for the Indian IT industry as well. 

Indian tech companies would no longer have to pay taxes on offshore revenues in Australia.

This is thanks to the Australian government which has agreed to amend its domestic tax law to stop taxation of the offshore income of Indian firms providing technical services to Australia.