NEW DELHI: Close on the heels on Portuguese PM’s visit to India reigniting his Goan roots, Delhi and Lisbon have decided to bring Agreement on Social Security (SSA) into force.The Social Security Agreement (SSA) between India and Portugal was signed on in 2013. On February seventh this year, Portugal on completion of the relevant constitutional and legal formalities conveyed to the Indian side that it is ready to bring the SSA into force.As per Article 22 of the SSA, the said SSA would come into force ninety days following the date of receipt of notification of completion of internal formalities by the respective parties . Accordingly, the SSA between India and Portugal would come into force on 8th May 2017.Bilateral social security agreements protect the interests of professionals, skilled workers working abroad by helping them avoid making double social security contributions; enable easy remittance of benefits (exportability); and aggregate the contribution periods (in two countries) to prevent loss of benefits (totalization).The SSA with Portugal will provide the following benefits to Indian nationals working in Portugal.For short term contract, up to 5 years, no social security contribution would need to be paid under the Portuguese law by the detached workers provided they continue to make social security payments in India. The above benefits shall be available even when the Indian company sends its employees to Republic of Portugal from a third country.Indian workers shall be entitled to the export of the social security benefit if they relocate to India after the completion of their service in Portugal. Self-employed Indians in Portugal would also be entitled to export of social security benefit on their relocation to India.The period of contribution in one contracting state will be added to the period of contribution in the second contracting state for determining the eligibility for social security benefits.As on date, India has signed and operationalized “comprehensive” Social Security Agreements (SSAs) with 17 countries - Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and South Korea. India also has an SSA with Germany, which is in the process of getting operationalized.The comprehensive SSA between India and Portugal when operational from May 9 this year will favorably impact the profitability and competitive position of Indian and Portuguese companies with foreign operations in either countries by reducing their cost of doing business abroad. The SSA will also help promote more investment flows between the two countries.