The India and United Kingdom trade agreement took effect on 15 July 2026, and no investment treaty came with it

The India and United Kingdom Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), signed on 24 July 2025, entered into force on 15 July 2026, together with the Double Contributions Convention (DCC) on social security. For a United Kingdom engineering or services business it lowers Indian import duty in stages, opens a defined list of Indian central government tenders, and sets the permitted length of stay for staff sent to India. The DCC keeps a seconded United Kingdom employee under National Insurance for up to 60 months. No investment treaty came with it: the 1994 bilateral investment treaty (BIT) ended on 23 March 2017, and the Department of Economic Affairs list shows no replacement.

Is the agreement in force, and since when?

Yes. The UK Government's guidance on the convention treats it as in force from 15 July 2026, and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's press release of 15 July 2026 records that the CETA, along with the Agreement on Social Security, "also known as the Double Contribution Convention", formally entered into force that day. The date was not fixed by the signing. Article 30.6 of the text provides for entry into force 60 days after the parties exchange notifications that their domestic requirements are complete, "or on such other date as the Parties may agree", and the parties agreed 15 July 2026.

The convention was a separate instrument. On 24 July 2025 the two governments exchanged side letters agreeing to negotiate it, and the letters provide that it "shall enter into force at the same time as the CETA". That is what happened. The convention was signed on 10 February 2026, per the Indian release of 17 June 2026. We have not read the text of the convention itself, only the side letter and the UK Government's published guidance on it.

What does it do for goods?

The UK Government's explanatory memorandum states that India removes or reduces tariffs, or keeps existing zero tariffs, on 90 per cent of its tariff lines. On entry into force, 64 per cent of lines became eligible for tariff free import; after staging over ten years the figure is 85 per cent. Sugar, milled rice, pork, chicken and eggs are excluded from liberalisation. The memorandum gives two examples of staged cuts: whisky duty falls to 75 per cent on the first day and to 40 per cent from year ten, and cars come under a quota that reduces tariffs from up to 110 per cent to 10 per cent over time.

Those are the memorandum's descriptions. The line by line schedule is Annex 2A of the agreement, and the percentages above say nothing about any one tariff heading. Preference also depends on the rules of origin in Chapter 3: a good claims the lower duty only if it originates in the United Kingdom under the product specific rules. India's press release records that the first certificates of origin were issued on the day of entry into force.

What does it open in public procurement?

Chapter 15 covers the central government entities listed in Annex 15A of India's schedule, which names about fifty ministries and departments, and the subordinate entities that procure independently. The thresholds are 450,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) for goods and for services, and 5,000,000 SDR for construction services. Central public sector enterprises of the listed entities are covered, except any "exposed to competitive market forces", which the Annex tests by the presence of similar suppliers, market based pricing and open market access.

Article 15.4 gives United Kingdom goods, services and suppliers treatment no less favourable than domestic ones, and bars offsets. It also preserves India's Make in India (MII) procurement order, on a condition: India must treat a United Kingdom supplier as a "Class-II local supplier" where the goods or services originate in the United Kingdom and meet the minimum local content that the order prescribes for that class. Local content is counted as value added in the United Kingdom, and the text adds that a United Kingdom supplier may contribute towards local content in India. We have not read the MII order itself, so the percentage is not stated here.

What do the services and mobility chapters give?

The explanatory memorandum describes the services chapter as locking in market access for committed sectors, with no requirement to set up a company in India or be resident there to supply a committed service. The commitments sit in Annex 8B, which we have not read.

Movement of people is governed by Chapter 10 and India's Annex 10A schedule, and the durations differ by category:

• business visitors: up to 180 days, extendable at India's discretion, on condition of no remuneration from an Indian source;
• intra-corporate transferees (managers, executives and specialists employed by a United Kingdom company with a commercial presence in India): one year or the contract period, whichever is less, extendable year to year to five years in total;
• contractual service suppliers, who perform a contract between their employer and an Indian client: one year or the contract period, whichever is less, in listed sectors that include engineering services, integrated engineering services, and computer and related services.

Article 10.3(6) keeps each country's employment and social security law in place, and Article 10.4(5) says that temporary entry does not exempt a person from licensing requirements to practise a profession.

What does the convention do for staff sent to India?

The UK Government's guidance on the convention states that a United Kingdom employee sent to work temporarily in India on or after 15 July 2026 "will remain subject to UK social security legislation" if the period of work is not expected to exceed 60 months. The employee and employer continue to pay National Insurance contributions in the United Kingdom, and a certificate of coverage from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), applied for on form CA9107, is the evidence that no liability arises in India. The side letter of 24 July 2025 describes the United Kingdom charge: primary Class 1 contributions from the employee and secondary Class 1 contributions from the employer, on the total remuneration.

The period has changed. The side letter provided for 36 months. The UK Government's explainer records that on 17 June 2026 the period "has been extended from 36 to 60 months", and the Indian press release of the same day describes an increase from three years to five. The Indian release speaks of Indian professionals in the United Kingdom; the UK guidance states the 60 months for both directions.

The guidance does not use the words "provident fund". The consequence it describes is that the posted employee is not subject to Indian social security legislation for the covered period, and in India the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is named as the body issuing certificates for Indian staff going the other way. We have not read an EPFO instrument or the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 on how the exemption is applied to an incoming United Kingdom employee.

Staff already posted before the date are treated differently. A United Kingdom employee sent to India between 15 July 2025 and 14 July 2026 who was paying Class 1 contributions beforehand can apply for a certificate that runs from 15 July 2026 for 52 weeks less the time already worked in India, after which the person becomes subject to Indian social security legislation.

What does it look like for a hypothetical firm?

An illustration. The firm, the dates and the staffing below are hypothetical.

A United Kingdom engineering firm sends three engineers to its Indian
subsidiary in Bengaluru from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2028

  Length of the posting                                       24 months
  DCC ceiling for a posting begun on or after 15 July 2026    60 months
  Headroom under the ceiling                                  36 months
  Certificates of coverage applied for from HMRC              3 (one each)

  Entry route under Annex 10A, Schedule of India
    Business visitor (180 days, no Indian pay)                not enough
    Contractual service supplier (one year)                   12 months short
    Intra-corporate transferee (one year, then extension)     24 months, with one
                                                              extension

The social security rule and the entry rule are separate tests. The 24 month posting sits well inside the 60 month ceiling, so the three engineers stay under United Kingdom National Insurance on the guidance. But the transferee route in the Annex is open to employees of a United Kingdom company with a commercial presence in India, transferred to a branch, representative office, affiliate or subsidiary, who are managers, executives or specialists. Sent under a services contract with an Indian client instead, the Annex grants one year or the contract period, whichever is less, so a two year stay would need more than the contractual service supplier category as written.

Is there an investment treaty?

No. The Department of Economic Affairs lists the India and United Kingdom agreement of 14 March 1994, in force from 6 January 1995, with a termination date of 23 March 2017. Its list of agreements carries no later entry for the United Kingdom, and the CETA's thirty chapters, as listed by the UK Government, have none on investment protection. The CETA covers goods, services, financial services, mobility, procurement and the other subjects named in its chapter titles, and contains no chapter protecting investors. The UK Government's memorandum refers to a 74 per cent limit on United Kingdom ownership of Indian banks and insurers, which is a market access term and not investor protection.

What remains unsettled?

Whether a new investment treaty is coming. Press reports of September 2026 say India is close to concluding treaties on a revised framework, including one with the United Kingdom. We have not seen a signed text or an official announcement of a concluded India and United Kingdom treaty, and the Department of Economic Affairs list does not show one.

How the 60 month ceiling is applied to a posting that is extended. The side letter's 36 month wording covered an increase in the anticipated period, and the UK guidance speaks of a period "not expected to exceed 60 months". We have not seen the signed convention's text on a posting that runs past the ceiling.

What happens to protection for investments made before 23 March 2017. We have not read the survival clause of the 1994 treaty.

How the Indian authorities apply the convention to an incoming employee, as the EPFO instruments were not read for this note.