What the law says, its historical development, the sector's numbers, and the types of sex work that exist.
It may come as a surprise to many, but “selling sex for a consideration” has not been called out as a criminal offence in India.
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA / often cited as ITPA/ITPA 1956, as amended) of India is the primary criminal statute on the subject of sex trade. It defines “prostitution,“ and “prostitute,” as “the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes or for consideration in money or in any other kind, and the expression “prostitute” shall be construed accordingly.”
Does that mean prostitution and sex work are permitted?
The broad interpretation should be that just like there is no specific prohibition of prostitution and sex work, there is also no specific recognition. It could be construed from the definition of prostitution that the focus is on “exploitation.”
To that end, the law does criminalize a number of related activities such as running/keeping brothels, pimping, procuring, detaining, living on others’ earnings from prostitution, soliciting in public, trafficking, and so on.
The land of the Kama Sutra
Ancient India is well known as the land of the Kama Sutra, one of the world’s earliest treatises on the subject of pleasure, believed to have been composed between 400 BCE and 300 CE.
Though today it is viewed in a narrow sense as a sex manual that describes many positions for pleasurable sex, the Kama Sutra, composed in Sanskrit, in its entirety, is a guide to the art of living well, listing pleasure as one of the desirable goals of life.
Encyclopedia Britannica refers to Kamasutra as the:
oldest extant Indian prose treatise (sutra) on the subject of pleasure (kama) - sexual pleasure, desire, love, and the pleasures of good living generally conceived. Popularly known for its depiction of positions for sexual intercourse, the text is more broadly about the life of pleasure, focusing on an adult man of leisure, the women in his life, and their social and physical encounters.
This tradition of pleasure and eroticism, and the openness in discussing it, has other manifestations, such as the amorous adventures of the Hindu deity Krishna and the sexually explicit carvings on the temples in Khajuraho, believed to have also drawn inspiration from the Kama Sutra.
History of sex work in India
Ancient India
The Kama Sutra can be a useful mirror to reflect the beliefs about sex work in this period.
The translated versions of Artha Shastra, a treatise on worldly affairs such as statecraft, politics, economic policy and military strategy dated to around the 2nd century BCE or shortly thereafter, contain several references to courtesans, dancing girls and prostitution.
These can be our guide to understand the societal views on sex work as well as the condition of people engaged in it:
"The Superintendent of Courtesans shall appoint courtesans in the capital.”
“Courtesans and dancing girls shall ascertain the loyalty or disloyalty of ministers.”
“A prostitute shall pay to the government a fixed share of her income.”
These references are from “Kautilya's Artha Shastra", believed to be the first translation of the tome in 1915 by R. Shamasastry. They indicate that prostitution was recognized as a profession and processes were in place to define and regulate the activities of courtesans and dancing girls.
Moreover, sex work was often regulated and integrated into urban life, rather than uniformly criminalized.
The devadasi system is another tradition which finds mention in literature around the 5th century onwards, mainly in the South. In this system, girls or women were ceremonially dedicated to a deity or temple and performed ritual dance, music, and service.
Over a period of several centuries, from a respected religious-artistic role it degenerated into a socially marginalized and often exploitative system.
Middle Ages
The period from the 11th to the early 18th century was a period of turbulence till the Mughals established control over much of the territory. By all accounts, courtesans continued to play a role in cultural life, often patronized by the court.
The term “tawaif” came to be used to refer to elite courtesans who were trained in the arts of music, poetry, etiquette, and dance, believed to be skills essential to appeal to influential men of the time. Some Indian classical music and dance traditions may have roots in the training centers of these courtesans.
However, outside the elite patronage of kings and noblemen and princes, prostitution existed in less prestigious and more marginalized forms. Social attitudes continued to be mixed, with moral stigma being attached to courtesans as well as their patrons.
Some say that with foreign influences coming in, their puritanical views could have influenced Indian thought on the subject.
Present
The present-day legal structure governing prostitution and sex work finds its roots during the period of the British rule in India, roughly late 18th century onwards.
The British attempts to regulate prostitution started with the cantonments, where most Britishers in India lived, as well as the troops. The initial attempts were for the purpose of maintaining the health and discipline of the troops, which later expanded to identifying and segregating brothels and other public-health interventions.
The temple patronage system, already weakened during preceding centuries, was dismantled by the British. The devadasi system, believed to have been equated to prostitution in the internal communication of the authorities, led to moral reframing in public perception. According to a Vajiram and Ravi publication, It was eventually outlawed nationally in 1988.
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was codified in 1956. Along with subsequent amendments, it acts as the primary statute for matters related to prostitution and sex work.
In numbers
According to a study on the Size Estimation of High-risk Groups for HIV Infection in India… published in April 2020 by the Indian Journal of Public Health:
In India, as on 2018–2019, there were nearly 18.2 lakhs estimated FSWs accounting to 0.53% among female population aged 15–49 years
As posted on 11th February, 2026 on the Press Information Bureau website, “the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes data on crimes, including crime against women and children, in its publication “Crime in India”, which is available on the website of NCRB https://ncrb.gov.in.
The said report is available up to the year 2023. As per NCRB, the number of cases registered under ‘the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956’ during the years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 are 1639, 1294, 1678, 1497 and 2166 respectively.
Changing patterns
A study titled IDENTIFYING CHANGING TRENDS IN THE SEX WORK DYNAMICS AMONG FEMALE SEX WORKERS (FSWS) IN INDIA was undertaken as part of National HIV/AIDS Research Plan under NACP. Key findings:
“Apart from the existing traditional forms of solicitation, there are now new physical spaces such as massage parlours or spas where solicitation takes place.
The use of mobile phones and various social media fora through information technology now play prominent roles in solicitation.
Condom use was widely reported by most FSWs, to the extent that some respondents even said that they insist on condom use, while denying lure of more money by clients…although they were ignorant about condoms earlier, they now do not practice sex work without condoms.”
Types of sex work in India today
Physical sex
This could be further classified based on the physical location (brothel, home, hotel, massage parlor, etc.) or the method of solicitation (phone, social media, streetside, etc.
Pimping / third-party enterprises & trafficking
Procuring, trafficking, forced prostitution and living off another’s earnings are criminal offences but are believed to be continuing.
Digital/ online/ sex work
This includes non-physical sex work such as talking on the phone or interacting over a video call with the purpose of titillation.
Adult content creation
While adult content creation is one type of sex work, the willing participation off actors/ players could be construed as a distinct type of sex work as well.
Pornography distribution
The distribution of pornographic content for consumption by others.
Concluding remarks
Sex work continues to face stigma and harassment at the hands of law enforcers.
Whether the laws and its guardians like the police end up criminalizing or marginalizing sex workers rather than protecting them has been an ongoing debate. Indian Courts have repeatedly emphasized the need to take rehabilitative and rights–protective steps for sex workers.