{"id":10578,"date":"2026-10-23T05:39:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T05:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?p=10578"},"modified":"2026-10-23T05:39:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T05:39:50","slug":"pf-and-esi-applicability-for-apprentices-under-naps-government-clarification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?p=10578","title":{"rendered":"PF and ESI Applicability for Apprentices under NAPS \u2013 Government Clarification"},"content":{"rendered":"<body>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, issued an Office Memorandum dated <strong>21 October 2026<\/strong> clarifying PF and ESI applicability for apprentices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key Points:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Apprentices engaged under the Apprentices Act, 1961, including NAPS and NATS, are not treated as employees for PF and ESI purposes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>PF and ESI contributions are not required on the stipend paid during the apprenticeship period.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This clarification applies only to apprentices engaged under the Apprentices Act. Trainees engaged outside this Act may be covered under applicable social security provisions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If an apprentice is subsequently appointed as a regular employee, PF and ESI provisions apply from the date of such employment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Employers must continue complying with apprenticeship requirements, including stipend payment and health, safety and welfare measures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/OM-dated-21.10.2026.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of &lt;strong&gt;Attachment:&lt;\/strong&gt; Please find attached the Government Office Memorandum dated 21 October 2026 for reference..\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-0736770a-9173-4337-9451-53de91274789\" href=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/OM-dated-21.10.2026.pdf\"><strong>Attachment:<\/strong> Please find attached the Government Office Memorandum dated 21 October 2026 for reference.<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/OM-dated-21.10.2026.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-0736770a-9173-4337-9451-53de91274789\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, issued an Office Memorandum dated 21 October 2026 clarifying PF and ESI applicability for apprentices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[209,190,55,51,140],"tags":[205,208,207,206,56],"class_list":["post-10578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apprenticeship-training","category-central-government-notification","category-esic-compliance","category-labour-law","category-provident-fund","tag-apprenticesact1961","tag-apprenticeshiptraining","tag-esicompliance","tag-naps","tag-pfcompliance"],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187.png",1242,621,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187.png",1242,621,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187.png",1242,621,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-300x150.png",300,150,true],"large":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-1024x512.png",1024,512,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187.png",1242,621,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187.png",1242,621,false],"themesflat-project-grid":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-1000x621.png",1000,621,true],"themesflat-project-single":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-1170x621.png",1170,621,true],"themesflat-service-grid":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-1000x621.png",1000,621,true],"themesflat-service-single":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-1170x621.png",1170,621,true],"themesflat-blog":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-1170x621.png",1170,621,true],"themesflat-blog-grid":["https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/a570600d-7348-4809-990d-5d988e02b187-750x446.png",750,446,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"ccsteam","author_link":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?author=7"},"rttpg_comment":1,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?cat=209\" rel=\"category\">Apprenticeship Training<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?cat=190\" rel=\"category\">Central Government Notification<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?cat=55\" rel=\"category\">ESIC Compliance<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?cat=51\" rel=\"category\">Labour Law<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/?cat=140\" rel=\"category\">Provident Fund<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, issued an Office Memorandum dated 21 October 2026 clarifying PF and ESI applicability for apprentices.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10581,"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10578\/revisions\/10581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chhedaconsultancyservices.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}