Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Considers Raising Apprentice Hiring Limit to 25%

As per Debasree Mukherjee, who is the Secretary of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the government may grant permission for firms to hire up to 25% apprentices. Such permission will come with stipulations which will prevent misuse of the scheme for cheap labor. The central government is also examining ways to make sure that the apprentices gain actual knowledge through such schemes.

She gave her remarks while addressing the annual business summit organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Many big industries have been requesting permission to take apprentices up to 25%. The current range of apprentices allowed is between 2.5% and 15%. At present, around 3 million trainees are registered under the scheme in India.

Mukherjee explained that three conditions must be met to retain 25% of trainees. The first condition is that establishments must have reached the 15% threshold in the last three years. The second condition is that they must pay at least 30% more than the mandatory minimum rate. The third condition is that they must employ at least 35% or more of the trainees they hire. This will ensure that trainees are not used solely as cheap labor.

The Secretary warned that there have been reports that trainees are often not properly trained. Even in public sector organizations, trainees are hired for a specific area and then placed in human resources roles. The government wants to stop such practices and is strengthening evaluation systems. He also highlighted the challenge of lack of progress in trainee programs in the micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) sector. He suggested adopting a cluster model, where MSME associations can handle the theoretical and evaluation parts.