Banks in India are considering hiring graduates under the age of 25 to work as apprentices. This is in line with the Indian government’s goal of offering internships to one crore youth of the country in the top 500 companies over a period of five years. The internship plan was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Such apprentices will not only be trained by the banks during their internship period but will also be paid a stipend of Rs 5,000 a month. There are also chances of such interns being absorbed by the banks. As per a PTI report, Sunil Mehta, chief executive, Indian Banks Association (IBA), discussed the implementation of the apprenticeship scheme with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs recently.
Such apprentices will be employed in areas where skilled manpower is not required, such as marketing and recoveries or even as business correspondents ensuring last-mile banking services.
Any graduate in the 21 to 25 age range may apply as long as they are not paying tax and do not hold a degree from a top institution such as IIT or IIM.
If all goes well, the apprenticeship scheme will be implemented by the banks in a month. While all banks will be participating in the scheme, the exact number of apprentices that will be hired has yet to be officially disclosed.
