India Inc calls for simplification of the Apprenticeship Act: TeamLease

Kolkata, Jul 19 (UNI) Ahead of the monsoon session of the Parliament where the Apprenticeship
Act is expected to be tabled, NETAP (National Employability through Apprenticeship Program),
a flagship program from TeamLease Services, conducted a survey with employers to understand
the bottlenecks in the current law that is impacting the apprenticeship eco-system and needs
immediate attention.
The survey conducted with close to 200 employers, nearly 100% of them mentioned that they
are expecting reforms which will simplify the ecosystem. While 30% and 24% of the survey
respondents recommended simplifying regulations and simplifying execution guidelines respectively, 24% wants flexible implementation. Additionally 20% respondents want apprenticeships to be
brought under one jurisdiction.
Sharing his views Sumit Kumar, Vice President-NETAP, TeamLease Skill University, said, “In India generating formal employment is the biggest concern. Apprenticeships have been very resourceful in this regard, on one side it has created a skilled talent pool for employers to hire from on the other side
it has enabled candidates to move towards formal employment and enhance their livelihood. However apprenticeships can play a far more crucial role in employment generation and for this we need a more enabling apprenticeship ecosystem. Today the ease of doing apprenticeships is not as seamless as other nations like United Kingdom, United States, France, China etc. For India to reach its vision of
10 million degree apprentices in 10 years, it has to bring about a change in the laws. In fact, the same sentiment was echoed in our survey.”
“Apprenticeship adoption has improved over the past few years. From 5,657 registered establishments for apprenticeships in 2015-2016, today (as of January 2021) there are 1,20,000 registered establishments. While there is a significant increase in overall registrations, execution
has not been at par with this increment. We still have a lot of untapped potential when it comes to apprenticeships. Given that apprenticeships today are an important part of the hiring strategy and
they help organizations to optimize costs & improve productivity, reforms in the Apprenticeship Act
will enable faster and better adoption of apprenticeships in India. Additionally apart from the reforms, introducing more benefits and subsidies for apprenticeships, under NAPS 2.0 will also be beneficial.
In the current scheme, 25% subsidy is applicable on stipends and 50% on basic training but this one size fits all does not yield great results. Instead in NAPS 2.0, the need is to create a subsidy
structure suitable to the segment/size of the organizations. With these reforms and changes, apprenticeships will become a major mechanism of formal employment generator in the country in
the long run”, added Mr Kumar.