India Inc offers higher stipends to apprentices, shows TeamLease report

TeamLease on Tuesday released its 'Stipend Primer Report' for FY22, which suggests that a 2% increase was witnessed in 2022 in average stipend payouts, as against the previous fiscal

There is a growing trend among India Inc companies to pay higher stipends to apprentices as compared to the mandated minimum notified stipend. 

TeamLease on Tuesday released its 'Stipend Primer Report' for FY22, which suggests that a 2 per cent increase was witnessed in 2022 in average stipend payouts, as against the previous fiscal. While there has been a marginal spike in the overall percentage increase, the report highlights a significant variation in stipend payouts across industries, cities, and educational qualifications. 

It further suggests that stipend payouts in certain sectors have gained better traction than salary trends over the past year. Promising stipends have been indicated for apprentices by a majority of industries that were surveyed.

For instance, in the manufacturing sector, six out of ten industries gave a higher stipend in 2022 as compared to the previous year. Agriculture & Agrochemicals witnessed a 12 per cent growth in stipend, with the current stipend at Rs14,000. 

Similarly, other industries which witnessed an increase in payouts include Apparel & Textiles (22 per cent), FMCG (8 per cent), Handicrafts & Jewellery (6 per cent), and Infrastructure & Capital Goods (5 per cent). 

The report also mentions that in the service sector, out of 13 industries, 11 provided a higher stipend. 

Furthermore, it suggested that the majority of cities (nine out of 14) experienced an increase in stipends in FY-2022 as against the previous year. The top-paying cities were Chennai (Rs 13,100 per month) and Kochi (Rs 13,000 per month), followed by Bengaluru and Coimbatore, both offering Rs 12,900. 

Other cities that reported an increase were Nagpur and Lucknow, which saw a nine per cent rise in stipends, while Chandigarh had a six per cent increase, Delhi and Hyderabad each had a 5 per cent increase in stipends.