Supermarket Chain Tesco has admitted receiving evidence of widespread forced labor of migrant women in cotton spinning-mills across Tamil Nadu.

The supermarket chain admitted there were several issues in relation to wages and benefits and verbal intimidation of workers in one of the mills it has links to in the region, and is working to stamp out abusive practices.

An investigation by NGOs Somo and Arisa, which interviewed 725 workers at 29 cotton-spinning mills in Tamil Nadu found evidence of multiple labour abuses including deception, intimidation and threats towards vulnerable female workers, abusive working and living conditions and excessive overtime.

The spinning mills of Tamil Naduhave long been associated with human rights abuses. A Guardian investigation in 2018 revealed that Hugo Boss had found young female workers held captive and prevented from leaving the premises in garment factories linked to its company in Tamil Nadu.

The authors of the report believe the alleged abuses they found in the 29 mills surveyed are likely to be replicated across the Tamil Nadu textile sector.