Yes, this appears to be the case. They think to save money that inexperienced pilots will be grateful for the rating and agree to the bond. The then believe those pilots are 'indentured' and have to stay. Just have a look at the thread on Great Wall Airlines to see how this system works at it's worst.
All they need to do to keep their pilots without trapping them into slavery is to make the place an enjoyable place to work with reasonable renumeration. This region will wake up to this fact if they want to compete for the dwindling resource that is the pilot, but until then it will be too late for some companys.