Lok Sabha Question No. 1373 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-25
Subject: Social Security Agreements
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: P. KUMAR

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1373

TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2018

## SOCIAL SECURITY AGREEMENTS

1373. SHRI P. KUMAR:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether   the   Government   has   signed   any   Social   Security Agreements with various countries; and
- (b) if so, the details thereof including the number of Indian expatriates, benefited through such agreements during the last three years, country-wise?

ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

- (a) Yes.
- (b) As on date, India has signed Social Security Agreements (SSAs) with 18   countries   -   Australia,   Austria,   Belgium,   Canada,   Czech   Republic, Denmark,   Finland,   France,   Germany,   Hungary,   Japan,   Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, South Korea; and with the Quebec Province of Canada.

Employees covered under the various SSAs are issued a Certificate of Coverage (CoC) by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) which   exempts   them   from   making   social   security   contribution   in   the foreign country concerned. The number of CoCs issued by EPFO in the last three years (country-wise) is as below:

|   Sl. No. | Country           |   COCs issued during 2015-16 |   COCs issued during 2016-17 |   COCs issued from 01.04.2017 to 11.07.2018 (Provisional) |
|-----------|-------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | Belgium           |                         2293 |                         3193 |                                                      3152 |
|         2 | Denmark           |                          865 |                         1149 |                                                      1248 |
|         3 | France            |                         1251 |                         1339 |                                                       945 |
|         4 | Germany           |                         7371 |                         7250 |                                                      8563 |
|         5 | Hungary           |                          314 |                          291 |                                                       411 |
|         6 | Luxemburg         |                          167 |                          110 |                                                       227 |
|         7 | Netherland        |                         3644 |                         4534 |                                                      5058 |
|         8 | Republic of Korea |                          276 |                          249 |                                                       126 |
|         9 | Switzerland       |                         2824 |                         2757 |                                                      2004 |
|        10 | Finland           |                          842 |                          776 |                                                       824 |
|        11 | Sweden            |                         2681 |                         2954 |                                                      2894 |
|        12 | Czech             |                          121 |                          165 |                                                       149 |

|     | Republic   |       |       |       |
|-----|------------|-------|-------|-------|
| 13. | Norway     |  1105 |   893 |  1429 |
| 14. | Austria    |     0 |     0 |   104 |
| 15. | Canada     |     0 |     0 |  4507 |
| 16. | Australia  |     0 |     0 |  8667 |
| 17. | Japan      |     0 |     0 |  2194 |
| 18. | Portugal   |     0 |     0 |    19 |
|     | Total      | 23754 | 25660 | 42521 |

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