Millions of workers in the Indian garment industry, many of them women, work from home. These women or girls are mainly from minority or marginalised communities. Each night after their children go to sleep, they spend hours at home, sewing, cutting and checking clothing given them by a garment factory contractor.

For each finished item, they earn less than a rupee. If they were at a factory, they would earn more and get overtime money, bonus and other benefits. But they cannot join a factory for one reason or the other. The price they pay for that is very low wages.

The Indian garment sector employs more than 12 million people in factories but millions more work from home. These workers are involved in the many stages of garment production from cutting sleeves to stitching buttons, embroidery, bead work and giving other finishing touches to items of clothing.

Up to 19 per cent of the workers are in the age group of 10 to 18 years. Eighty-five per cent of the workers exclusively work in supply chains for the export of clothing to the United States and the European Union. Besides being denied minimum wages, home workers have virtually no avenue to seek redress for abusive or unfair conditions.