Tesco has launched an inquiry into a report that some of its workers in Malaysia work up to 80 hours a week for as little as 8p an hour.
Migrant workers from Bangladesh told the Daily Telegraph that they paid a labour agent up to £1,500 to land a job at one of Tesco's Malaysian stores.
They then find themselves working for between £20 to £50 a month after deductions are made to their salary.
Tesco said it took the allegations about its contractors very seriously.
"Doing business in some overseas markets can be challenging as local laws and customs sometimes appear to conflict with the high expectations we have here in the UK and elsewhere in the international community," Tesco said in a statement.
"However, wherever we operate we insist on the highest standards of welfare for workers, both our own and - as in this case - those employed by contractors working for us."
"Whilst we do not believe that they are deliberately seeking to disadvantage their workers, if improvements need to be made we will not hesitate to make them."
The Daily Telegraph said labour agents promised the Bangladeshi workers that they would be paid £180 - £215 a month.
But migrant workers in Malaysia rarely earn more than a gross salary of £117 a month, the paper reported.
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