NATS apprenticeships: the stipend, the year and the certificate

One line in Cisco's software engineer trainee listing does more explaining than most of the page. It asks for candidates who have enrolled as a student on nats.education.gov.in and hold a valid student enrolment number issued by NATS. If you skipped that line, you would apply, clear the interviews and then be unable to join, because the apprenticeship contract is created on that portal and needs your enrolment.

NATS is the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme, run under the Ministry of Education for graduates and diploma holders. Companies use it to take fresh graduates for a fixed year of paid, structured training. On 22 October 2026, 33 live HireSetu listings had apprentice or NATS in the title. Volvo had 13 of them, Eaton 7, and the rest came from Getinge, Itron, Russell Investments, Vodafone, Medtronic, Oceaneering, American Express, Synopsys, State Street and Innovaccer. Cisco's trainee role runs on NATS without saying so in its title.

What the listings ask for

Read the right-hand column twice. The scheme sets the frame, and each employer narrows it. Itron's "no prior apprenticeship" line means a NATS year can be the thing that disqualifies you from a second programme, which matters if you are choosing between two offers.

Not every title with apprentice in it is a NATS seat. Several of Eaton's apprentice listings ask for zero to two years of experience and never mention the scheme, and American Express lists a 24-month apprenticeship. If the listing does not name NATS or the portal, ask the recruiter which scheme the role falls under before you assume the rules below apply.

How the year runs

From enrolment to certificate

1. Enrol on the portal

   Register as a student on nats.education.gov.in and get your enrolment number. Do it once your final results are out or earlier, because listings like Cisco's want the number at the application stage.

2. Apply through the company

   You still apply through the employer's own listing and go through its selection: a test, an interview, sometimes both. NATS does not place you anywhere on its own.

3. Contract on the portal

   Once selected, the company raises the apprenticeship contract on the portal against your enrolment. Check that the dates and your details are right before you accept it.

4. Monthly stipend

   The company pays the stipend. Part of the statutory minimum is reimbursed by the government through direct benefit transfer to your bank account, so keep the account linked on the portal active.

5. End of the year

   You receive a Certificate of Proficiency for the completed apprenticeship. What happens to the job is a separate question, covered below.

The money

The scheme sets a minimum and fixes no amount. According to the Ministry of Education and the NATS portal, the prescribed minimum stipend is ₹9,000 a month for graduate apprentices and ₹8,000 for diploma apprentices. The government shares half of that minimum, paid to the apprentice through DBT, and the company pays the rest and anything above it.

Companies can and do pay more than the minimum. Volvo's B.Com and BBA listing states ₹16,500 a month, the only NATS listing in our set that printed a figure. When a listing is silent, the stipend is still a fair question to ask once you clear the interviews. Ask it as a number, monthly, and ask whether the government share is included in that number or comes on top of it, because the two answers lead to different amounts in your account.

What a typical NATS listing leaves for you to ask

A graduate apprentice listing

Known

• ✓ The programme length
• ✓ Eligible degrees and graduation years
• ✓ Documents needed at joining
• ✓ The city and work mode

Unknown

• ? The monthly stipend, in most listings
• ? Whether the government share is inside that figure
• ? Whether apprentices have moved into permanent roles before, and how many
• ? Shift timings, for operations roles

Ask the unknowns after the final interview, in writing if you can.

After the twelve months

The Apprentices Act does not oblige the company to offer you a job when the year ends. Some companies keep a share of their apprentices, some keep none, and the listing will not tell you which kind you are joining. The question to ask is the same one that matters for any contract role: of last year's apprentices in this team, how many were offered a permanent position?

If you leave, the year still travels with you. You have a certificate, a manager who watched you work for twelve months, and a year of tasks you can describe in detail. On a resume, write it as what it was, for example Graduate Apprentice (NATS), with the company, the dates and three or four lines about the work. Listings that ask for zero to two years of experience generally read a training year in the same field as relevant, and an interviewer will care much more about the work you describe than about the word apprentice.

Two kinds of listing treat it differently. Campus-style graduate programmes sometimes accept only candidates with no prior work, and Itron's listing above shuts out anyone who has already done an apprenticeship. If you hope to apply to programmes like that later, apply to them first.

Questions graduates ask about NATS

Is NATS the same as NAPS?

No. NATS, under the Ministry of Education, covers graduates and diploma holders and is run through the regional Boards of Apprenticeship Training. NAPS, under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, is mostly used for trade apprentices. Check which one the listing names, because each has its own portal and rules.

Can I apply before my degree certificate arrives?

Many listings accept a provisional degree certificate, and Volvo and Cisco both say so. Final-semester students can usually enrol and apply, but the contract can only start once the employer has the certificate it asked for.

Someone is offering me a NATS seat for a fee. Is that normal?

No. Enrolment on the government portal does not need an agent, and companies select apprentices through their own process. A request for money in exchange for a seat is a warning sign.

Final-year students can enrol on the portal now, before the results. Keep a PDF of your enrolment confirmation with your mark sheets, so that when a listing like Cisco's asks for the number, you can paste it in the same afternoon.