India has entered into a labour cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia covering about a quarter of the 28 lakh Indian expatriates working in the kingdom, reports said.

The agreement could be the first step towards a comprehensive pact covering all Indian workers in the kingdom, a report in The Hindu quoting official sources said. The current agreement is restricted only to domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.

The agreement on labour cooperation for domestic service workers recruitment was signed India's Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and Saudi Arabian Labour Minister Adel bin Mohammed Fakeih.

Over 70 lakh Indians work in the six Gulf countries.

The agreement regulates contractual relations between employers and domestic workers, ensures authenticity and implementation of the employment contract, promises action against recruitment agencies violating laws and seeks to establish a mechanism to provide 24 hours assistance to domestic workers. A standard employment contract would set out minimum wages, working hours, paid holidays and a dispute settlement mechanism, said the report.