Asia Tech Wire (June 27) -- Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (2317.TW), commonly known as Foxconn, on Thursday denied allegations that its Indian plant refused to hire married women.

This comes after Reuters published an investigation report, stating that Foxconn's iPhone factory in India's Tamil Nadu state refused to hire married women to work on assembling cell phones.

And the news agency reported Wednesday that India's Ministry of Labour & Employment has asked the state to look into the matter and submit a "detailed report."

In response, Foxconn filed a document with the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Thursday to address the media reports.

According to the statement, the company "categorically denies any allegation of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form."

Foxconn said the company has worked with local authorities to ensure that all hiring processes meet local standards and are legally compliant.

It noted that the company initiated an inventory of local third-party manpower firms in India in 2022, and found that four agents had posted recruitment advertisements that did not meet the company's standards.

At that time it immediately took corrective action against the outsourcing manpower firms, and removed over 20 recruitment advertisements that did not meet the standards.

"During this past period, about 25% of the female employees recruited by Hon Hai in India were married women," the company said.