NETAP Story

 It took TeamLease 6 years in the run up to the launch of NETAP. Under UPA II in 2008, we were
invited on the PM Skill Council and were asked for suggestions on what would get us to the
target to achieve 500m skilled people by 2022. We suggested a flexible and friendlier
apprenticeship regime would be most favourable.
 We chair the sub-committee appointed by the Planning Commission to re-model India’s
apprenticeship regime and proposed 14 changes to The Apprenticeship Act of 1961, echoing the
feedback from India Inc. All our recommendations were accepted by a review committee under
Montek Singh Ahluwalia. But these were never implemented due to policy paralysis.
 While lobbying for the amendments, we were told to stop creating just noise but produce a
framework if we so thought the existing framework didn’t work. And that is how the framework
of NETAP was conceived to address all major deficiencies in the Apprentices Act, 1961.
 TeamLease made the proposal to Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2010. After 37 such
clarifications over 2 years, MOLE still didn’t endorse the proposal.
 In 2013, MHRD under Kapil Sibal took the bait and in April 2013, the Government of India issued
a new set of Regulations known as NEEM – National Employability Enhancement Mission,
notified under AICTE, Ministry of HRD that for the first time in the history of India provide a
framework for India Inc. to employ apprentices for on the job training and give the corporate
full flexibility to determine the trade, scope of work, duration of this traineeship, location,
stipend (provided it is above the minimum wage of the state).
 Under NEEM, TeamLease Education Foundation is an approved agent and NETAP was launched
as India’s Largest Employability Scheme in a Public Private Partnership of TeamLease Skills
University, CII, NSDC with the objective to appoint 2 lac apprentices in 22 trades every year for
the next 10 years.