State Secretary Lilian Tschan welcomed Ajit Gupte, India’s new ambassador, for talks at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on 13 December 2024. Their meeting focused on the German Government’s “Skilled Labour Strategy: India” and labour migration from India to Germany.
The talks were a continuation of this year’s successful German-Indian intergovernmental consultations. For these consultations, Germany’s labour minister Hubertus Heil was one of the German ministers travelling to New Delhi where he met his Indian counterpart Mansukh Mandaviya. Both were of the opinion that the local embassy can be of great help with the implementation of what has already been agreed in the area of labour and social affairs. The two labour ministers agreed on an in-depth dialogue of their ministries on employment and social policy issues. With a view to Indian expertise, a human-centred application of AI will play a major role in this dialogue. Moreover, German labour minister Hubertus Heil presented the new “Skilled Labour Strategy: India” of the German Government. The strategy aims to further boost and improve the already successful migration of Indians to Germany.
Skilled Labour Strategy: India
Ambassador Gupte welcomed the substance of the skilled labour strategy, highlighting India’s long tradition of labour migration as the world’s most populous country. Germany has also benefited from Indian labour mobility over the past few years. The number of Indians interested in a job in Germany has gone up markedly, especially following the conclusion of a comprehensive migration agreement between Germany and India. At present, 136,000 Indian citizens have jobs with compulsory social insurance coverage in Germany. Nine years ago, there were only 23,000 Indian workers in Germany.
State Secretary Tschan confirmed this: “We are delighted that so many workers from India have come to Germany in recent years and have integrated so well into our labour market! The comprehensive migration and mobility partnership agreement of 2022 was an important building block in this success story.”
The Indian ambassador emphasised that he would like Indians interested in employment in Germany to get even better information on job offers and requirements as well as private recruitment agencies. The two sides also discussed language courses. State Secretary Tschan pointed out that there were plans for an expert meeting with Indian colleagues at the beginning of next year to discuss labour migration.