India Wednesday said there is no concrete evidence that 39 of its nationals kidnapped by Islamic State (IS) militants from the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014 are dead.

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said "it's a sin" to presume that the 39 Indians missing in Iraq are dead given that so far, "there are no bodies, no bloodstains, no list, no ISIS videos."

"Declaring anyone dead without proof is a sin and I won't commit a sin. This government won't end the search for our missing citizens until we have proof they are not alive," Swaraj told the parliament, responding to allegations that she was "misleading the house" on the issue.

"We don't have any proof of them being alive. However, we didn't get any corpses, blood trail or any list published by the ISIS either which could have confirmed that they are dead."

The Indians, all laborers, were taken hostage by IS militants when it overran Iraq's second largest city of Mosul in 2014. They were trying to leave Mosul at the time.

On Monday, Iraq said it was "not 100 percent sure" whether the missing Indians were alive or dead. "We are equally concerned. We're not sure 100 percent they're alive or not, we don't know, we are going to do our best," visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari said.

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