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Human trafficking in India
In 2025, Human trafficking in India, although illegal under Indian law, remained a significant problem. People were frequently illegally trafficked through India for commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour was completed, NGOs[who?] estimated this problem affected[clarification needed] 20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children were trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls were trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in those areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of men. Men and boys were trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.
India was also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Nepali children were also trafficked to India for forced labour in circus shows. Indian women were trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation. Indian migrants who migrated willingly every year to the Middle East and Europe for work as domestic servants and low-skilled labourers may also have ended up part of the human trafficking industry. In such cases, workers may have been 'recruited' by way of fraudulent recruitment practices that led them directly into situations of forced labour, including debt bondage; in other cases, high debts incurred to pay recruitment fees left them vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers in the destination countries, where some were subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, including non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, unlawful withholding of passports, and physical or sexual abuse.
Human trafficking in India results in women suffering from both mental and physical issues. Mental issues include disorders such as PTSD, depression and anxiety. The lack of control women have in trafficking increases their risk of suffering from mental disorders. Women who are forced into trafficking are at a higher risk for HIV, TB, and other STDs. Condoms are rarely used and therefore there is a higher risk for victims to suffer from an STD.
India ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in 2011.
The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017 and 2023.
In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave the country a score of 8 out of 10 for human trafficking, noting porous borders with Nepal and Bangladesh.
Traffickers of young girls into prostitution in India are often women who have been trafficked themselves.[citation needed] As adults they use personal relationships and trust in their villages of origin[dubious – discuss] to recruit additional girls.
The Government of India penalises trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation through the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA), with prescribed penalty of seven years' to life imprisonment. India also prohibits bonded and forced labour through the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, the Child Labour Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act.
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Human trafficking in India
In 2025, Human trafficking in India, although illegal under Indian law, remained a significant problem. People were frequently illegally trafficked through India for commercial sexual exploitation and forced/bonded labour. Although no reliable study of forced and bonded labour was completed, NGOs[who?] estimated this problem affected[clarification needed] 20 to 65 million Indians. Men, women and children were trafficked in India for diverse reasons. Women and girls were trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, especially in those areas where the sex ratio is highly skewed in favour of men. Men and boys were trafficked for the purposes of labour, and may be sexually exploited by traffickers to serve as gigolos, massage experts, escorts, etc. A significant portion of children are subjected to forced labour as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups.
India was also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Nepali children were also trafficked to India for forced labour in circus shows. Indian women were trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation. Indian migrants who migrated willingly every year to the Middle East and Europe for work as domestic servants and low-skilled labourers may also have ended up part of the human trafficking industry. In such cases, workers may have been 'recruited' by way of fraudulent recruitment practices that led them directly into situations of forced labour, including debt bondage; in other cases, high debts incurred to pay recruitment fees left them vulnerable to exploitation by unscrupulous employers in the destination countries, where some were subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, including non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, unlawful withholding of passports, and physical or sexual abuse.
Human trafficking in India results in women suffering from both mental and physical issues. Mental issues include disorders such as PTSD, depression and anxiety. The lack of control women have in trafficking increases their risk of suffering from mental disorders. Women who are forced into trafficking are at a higher risk for HIV, TB, and other STDs. Condoms are rarely used and therefore there is a higher risk for victims to suffer from an STD.
India ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in 2011.
The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2" in 2017 and 2023.
In 2023, the Organised Crime Index gave the country a score of 8 out of 10 for human trafficking, noting porous borders with Nepal and Bangladesh.
Traffickers of young girls into prostitution in India are often women who have been trafficked themselves.[citation needed] As adults they use personal relationships and trust in their villages of origin[dubious – discuss] to recruit additional girls.
The Government of India penalises trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation through the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA), with prescribed penalty of seven years' to life imprisonment. India also prohibits bonded and forced labour through the Bonded Labour Abolition Act, the Child Labour Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act.