Employees coming to Bahrain from India must sign a contract and keep a copy of it, said Indian Ambassador Mohan Kumar.

He was speaking at an open house held at the embassy premises in Adliya on Friday.

"Employees in managerial posts or low-income workers must sign a valid contract and keep a copy with them," said Kumar.

"Workers coming to Bahrain from India must urge sponsors or recruitment agencies to give them the contract.

"Many workers do not have a contract with them and that's the reason they face problems," Mr Kumar said.

Many workers are unable to read and write, so many companies and recruitment agencies take advantage of it, said an embassy spokesman.

"When they are in India, they are asked to sign a contract, but they don't get a copy of it," he told the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

"Many of them, on arriving in Bahrain, complain that their sponsors or employers are offering much less than what they were promised.

"As they don't have any proof, specifically the contract which they signed, they can't prove their cases."

Eight complaints were filed at the open house, including non-payment of salaries and sponsors holding on to workers' passports.

"We will take the usual procedures in calling the sponsors and following up the cases with authorities," First Secretary Ajay Kumar told the GDN.-TradeArabia News Service