National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS): Bridging India’s Skills And Employment Gap

Policy Update
Sairaj Patil

Background: 

The Government of India, under the Apprentices Act, 1961, implements the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) as one of two flagship Central Sector schemes supporting apprenticeship engagement in the country. Launched in August 2016 and continued as NAPS-2 from 2022-23, NAPS is implemented by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), targeting ITI pass-outs, graduates, diploma holders, and skill-certificate holders, to bridge the gap between classroom learning and workplace-ready skills.

NAPS shares 25% of the prescribed stipend with employers, up to ₹1,500 per apprentice per month, spanning 49 sectors across 36 States and Union Territories via the Apprenticeship India Portal. It complements the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (NATS), launched in 1973 by the Ministry of Education and approved for continuation up to 2025-26 — together forming India’s dual-track apprenticeship architecture.

Functioning:               

NAPS operates through a structured, multi-component framework aimed at easing the financial burden of apprentice engagement, ensuring quality training, and enabling formal recognition of skills. The scheme functions through the following key elements:

1. Stipend Sharing: The Government shares 25% of the prescribed minimum stipend with employers, up to a maximum of ₹1,500 per apprentice per month, disbursed directly through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), ensuring transparency and minimizing leakage.
2. Training Structure: Apprenticeship training is divided into Basic Training, delivered by designated Training Providers with costs shared by the Government up to ₹7,500 for 500 hours/3 months per apprentice, and On-the-Job Training, conducted at the employer’s premises, including at MSMEs, where apprentices gain hands-on exposure to real workplace processes.
3. Sectoral Coverage: Engagement spans 49 sectors, concentrated across 13 priority industries — including Automotive, BFSI, Electronics, IT/ITeS, Manufacturing, and Retail — reflecting sectors of highest industry demand for trained talent.
4. Digital Workflow: Registration, contract formation, stipend disbursement, and certification are managed through the Apprenticeship India Portal, creating a single digital interface connecting employers, training providers, and apprentices nationwide.
5. Certification: Successful apprentices receive nationally recognized credentials — a National Apprenticeship Certificate (NAC) for Designated trades and a Certificate of Proficiency (CoP) for Optional trades — recognized, in specific cases, as work experience for government recruitment.

Despite this structured design, functioning on the ground is not without friction, with gaps between the scheme’s intended reach and its day-to-day uptake — a theme examined further in the Emerging Issues section. 

Further details can be found in the official guidelines: Apprenticeship India Portal and DGT Website.

Performance

Since its restructuring as NAPS-2 in FY 2022-23, the scheme has shown consistent growth in apprenticeship engagement across India. As per data shared in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on 11 March 2026, apprentices engaged under NAPS rose from 3.08 lakh in FY 2020-21 to 9.85 lakh in FY 2024-25 (Table 1), reflecting steady scale-up in employer participation and outreach.

Women’s participation has also grown over the same period, rising from 0.56 lakh in FY 2020-21 to 2.25 lakh in FY 2024-25 (Table 2), lifting women’s share of total apprentices engaged from around 18% to nearly 23% — a gradual but notable improvement in gender inclusion.

Data sourced from Press Information Bureau, “Progress of the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS),” Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, 11 March 2026.

As per the Third-Party Evaluation of NAPS-2.0 conducted by the Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management (AJNIFM) — an autonomous training and research institute under the Government of India, mandated to conduct policy-relevant evaluations and capacity-building in public financial management — around 72% of apprentices surveyed reported receiving offers of full-time employment on completion of training, indicating that apprenticeship is increasingly serving as a workforce pipeline for industry. However, the pace of growth in total engagement has slowed between FY 2023-24 and FY 2024-25, suggesting the need for renewed outreach to sustain momentum toward broader coverage 

Impact

1. Institutional Impact: NAPS has shifted apprenticeship from a fragmented, informal practice into a standardized national system, anchored by the Apprenticeship India Portal and periodic CAC reforms — including the 2025 CPI-linked stipend hike and the 2026 Apprenticeship Embedded Degree Programme.
2. Labour Market Impact: With 72% of surveyed apprentices reporting full-time job offers (AJNIFM evaluation), NAPS is emerging as a genuine feeder channel into formal employment, particularly in sectors like automotive and electronics where hands-on skill outweighs formal qualifications.
3. Employer Impact: The stipend-sharing model has lowered the upfront cost of training new entrants, particularly for MSMEs, which now account for 38,936 of the 57,945 establishments registered under the scheme.
4. Gender Composition Shift: Women’s share of apprentices has risen from roughly 18% to nearly 23% over five years, reflecting slow but real progress in opening more trades to women.

Emerging Issues

• Declining Applicant Interest: Applications fell sharply from 42.8 lakh in 2022 to about 4 lakh in 2025, even as apprentices actually engaged continued to rise — a widening gap between candidate demand and listed opportunities.
• Low Employer Activation: Over 74% of the 1.96 lakh registered establishments (FY 2024-25) remain inactive annually, despite Section 8 of the Apprentices Act mandating minimum engagement ratios — Section 30’s modest penalty (₹500–1,000/month per shortfall) offers little deterrent.
• MSME Participation Gap: Engagement remains concentrated among larger establishments, despite MSMEs forming the bulk of India’s industrial base — pointing to a need for simplified compliance and outreach.
• Gender Gap: Women’s participation, though growing, remains under a quarter of total apprentices, reflecting continued barriers around safety and accessibility.
• Sectoral and Regional Concentration: Engagement remains concentrated in a handful of sectors and states, with limited disaggregated data to assess underserved regions.
• Scheme Fragmentation: NAPS (MSDE) and NATS (Ministry of Education) operate as parallel schemes with separately maintained data systems — NAPS engaged 11.84 lakh apprentices against NATS’s 5.23 lakh in 2025 — limiting a unified national view.

Addressing these will require sustained coordination between MSDE, state skill departments, and industry bodies to simplify compliance and improve data integration across NAPS and NATS.

Way Forward

NAPS holds strong potential to bridge India’s skilling and employment gap. Reversing the declining applicant trend will require renewed outreach among youth and MSMEs, alongside simplified compliance — such as single-window registration and reduced documentation for contract renewals — to lower the administrative burden discouraging smaller establishments from active engagement. Tiered incentives, including a higher stipend-reimbursement share for smaller firms, could help convert inactive registrations into real training capacity.

Targeted efforts to boost women’s participation, deeper convergence between NAPS and NATS, better disaggregated data, and transparent CPI-linked stipend revisions will further strengthen the scheme’s contribution to building a skilled, employment-ready workforce for India’s economic future.

Selected References and Important Links

1. Press Information Bureau. (2026). “National Apprenticeship Promotion and Training Schemes.” Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2226495&reg=48&lang=2
2. Press Information Bureau. (2025). “38th Meeting of the Central Apprenticeship Council recommends 36% increase in apprentice stipend.” Government of India. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2131391
3. Press Information Bureau. (2026). “Salient Features of NAPS-2.” Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, 27 July 2026. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2289894&reg=48&lang=2
4. Press Information Bureau. (2026). “Progress of the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS).” Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, 11 March 2026. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2238227&reg=1&lang=1
5. Sharma, A. (2026). “India’s apprenticeship scheme has few takers.” Policy Circle. https://www.policycircle.org/industry/indias-apprenticeship-scheme-naps/
6. Kaushik, V. (2024). “26% increase in enrollments for apprenticeship scheme; maximum from Maharashtra.” Careers360 News.  https://news.careers360.com/26-percent-increase-in-enrollments-for-apprenticeship-scheme-naps-maximum-from-maharashtra
7. The Apprentices Act, 1961 (Act No. 52 of 1961). India Code, Government of India. https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/1668?view_type=browse

About the Contributor

Sairaj Patil is a research intern at the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), pursuing a Master’s degree in Political Science. His research interests lie in public policy, skill development and employment, and governance, with a focus on analyzing government schemes and their socio-economic impact. 

Acknowledgment

The author extends sincere gratitude to Paridhi Passi and Vishal Kumar for their invaluable guidance and support.

Reviewed by Vishal Kumar and Paridhi Passi.

Publisher: Pallavi Lad

Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the organisation.

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