MSDE to transfer its share of apprenticeship stipend directly to candidates

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

MSDE) will now transfer its share of apprenticeship stipend directly to candidates, a move aimed at bringing in greater transparency and incentivising individuals to undertake apprenticeship training. The ministry has launched direct benefit transfer under the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) on Friday, is bursing Rs 15 crore to 0.1 million apprentices on the first day.

Under the NAPS, the Centre reimburses 25% of the prescribed stipend subject to a maximum of Rs 1500 per month per apprentice to the employer. However, with the introduction of DBT MSDE expects that 30% of target apprentices, under NAPS 2.0, will be paid their stipend by the government.

According to MSDE, a total of 2.5 million youth have been engaged till July 31, 2023 as apprentices since the inception of the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme in 2016, till 31st July 2023 with 0.26 million apprentices trained in FY 23-24. Even the number of establishments engaged in apprenticeship training have gone up from 6,755 in 2018-19 to 40,655 in 2023-24.

“The introduction of direct benefit transfer (DBT) through NAPS marks a stride towards transparency and efficiency,” Atul Kumar Tiwari, secretary, ministry of skill development & entrepreneurship said. According to MSED, women apprentices have also increased from 22,427 in 2018-19 to 0.14 million in FY 2022-23, registering a nearly seven-fold increase in the last five years.

States like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana have emerged as the top apprenticeship providers in the country with more than 0.9 million trained youth in the age group of 23-26 years. The MSDE, on Friday, organized the chintan shivir on “enhancing apprenticeship engagement”