India’s fastest as well as the largest private degree linked apprenticeship program, National Employability through Apprenticeship [NETAP], and TeamLease Skills University, a PPP skills university, recently launched a report titled- ‘The Apprenticeship Outlook and Index’, a detailed six month forecast on apprenticeship hiring trends in India.

According to the report findings, in the services sector, retail industry has emerged as the leading industry for apprentices. More than 45 per cent of the retail companies interviewed have expressed interest in hiring apprentices. Around 42 per cent employers in the services sector are open to hiring apprentices in the future as well.

While southern and northern region with 48 per cent and 44 per cent respectively will be the biggest beneficiaries of this optimism, western (38 per cent) and eastern (31 per cent) region also will look forward to hiring apprentices. Further the report highlights distinctive stipend pay out trends within the retail industry itself. Stipend pay out in the north stands at 10500, followed by south at 9500. Stipend trend in west and east are 8300 and 7100, respectively. TeamLease Employment Outlook Report (April to September) indicated a positive growth in overall hiring in the retail sector. The Apprenticeship Outlook report also resonate the same sentiment for the sector and indicates a good time for talent who are looking at perusing a career in retail.

Sumit Kumar, Vice President - NETAP, TeamLease Skill University, said, “The government has taken multiple initiatives like FDI clearance, policy changes, etc. which have led to apotential increase in retail activity through the expansion of local chains and large format malls. Employers have realized that to take advantage of the positive eco-system they require a steady pipeline of productive and highly skilled workforce. The only way to create this workforce is through apprenticeship. The gap in employability is also a key contributor towards the rise in apprentice hiring by the sector. Though good, today the participation by the corporates in the retail sector is pegged at 45 per cent only, we are confident that it will steadily increase and apprentices will be an integral part of the human resource planning in the sector.”

“In the south, cities like Coimbatore,Kochi, Vizag, Vijayawada, Trivandrum and Madurai are new emerging markets where employer sentiment is continuously strengthening and we are expecting it to grow even further in the next few years”, added Kumar.

A detailed analysis, the report also delves deep into the nature of engagement with apprentices. As per the report, around 89% of the employers preferred six months to one year tenure rather than short duration apprentices. The report highlights that 30 per cent of employers engage apprentices with the purpose of meeting the skill requirement of the company. The growth is primarily attributed to employers being increasingly invested in the apprenticeship model over the last two years especially for cost effective talent creation and enhanced productivity.

The Apprenticeship Outlook report is an in-depth study on the current levels of hiring of apprentices and employer sentiment about apprentice hiring for the next six months [CY-2: July 2019 – December 2019]. The insights are derived through analysis of historical data of apprentice hiring and findings of the survey conducted with 502 employers across 12 sectors and four regions (South, North, East and West). The report also includes the Apprenticeship Index (comprising the Candidate Index and the Employer Index) which measures the effectiveness of the apprenticeship programs in India.