Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana (MAY), Gujarat

What is Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana?

Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana (MAY) is a Gujarat state initiative under the Directorate of Employment and Training (DET), which sits in the Labour, Skill Development and Employment Department, Government of Gujarat. The scheme works on top of the national apprenticeship system created by the Apprentices Act, 1961, adding state stipend support so that establishments in Gujarat find it worthwhile to take on apprentices and young people find it worthwhile to spend a year or more in structured training rather than in casual work.

Apprenticeship in India has a specific legal meaning that is worth being precise about. An apprentice is not an employee and not an intern. An apprentice is engaged on a registered apprenticeship contract for a fixed duration in a designated or optional trade, receives a stipend rather than a salary, and on completion is assessed and given a certificate that employers across the country recognise. Gujarat's scheme does not change any of that; it changes the economics by sharing the stipend burden.

The Directorate of Employment and Training is the state apprenticeship authority. It runs the industrial training institutes, administers the Craftsman Training Scheme and the Dual System of Training, and holds the office of the Apprenticeship Adviser for the state. All apprenticeship registration, both of establishments and of candidates, happens on the national portal at apprenticeshipindia.gov.in, which DET links to directly from its own site.

Key features

• State stipend support added to the employer's statutory stipend.
• Administered by the Directorate of Employment and Training, Gujarat.
• Built on the Apprentices Act, 1961 framework.
• Registration for both candidate and establishment on apprenticeshipindia.gov.in.
• One registered contract per apprentice, for a fixed training period.
• Completion leads to a nationally recognised apprenticeship certificate.

On stipend amounts: the apprentice's stipend has a statutory minimum fixed under the Apprentices Act and its rules, varying by the apprentice's qualification level, and Gujarat's own share is fixed by the government resolution in force for the scheme. State scheme rates are revised by resolution from time to time. This guide does not quote a rupee figure, because an outdated number would cause a candidate or an employer to plan wrongly. Take the current state rate from the Directorate of Employment and Training at det.gujarat.gov.in or from the Apprenticeship Adviser's office.

Who is eligible for Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana?

A candidate can apply if:

• You are a resident of Gujarat.
• You meet the minimum age for apprenticeship under the Apprentices Act, which is 14 years generally and 18 years for trades involving hazardous industries.
• You hold the entry qualification for the trade. This may be Class 10, Class 12, an ITI National Trade Certificate, a diploma or a degree, depending on what the establishment has notified for the seat.
• You are medically fit for the trade concerned, where fitness is a stated requirement.
• You have an active bank account in your own name for the stipend.

An establishment can participate if:

• It is registered on apprenticeshipindia.gov.in with a valid establishment profile.
• It has declared its apprenticeship seats and the trades against them.
• It is willing to pay the stipend and register the contract, then claim the state share.

You cannot apply if:

• You are below the statutory minimum age for the trade.
• You do not meet the entry qualification the establishment has notified.
• You are already engaged as an apprentice elsewhere. An apprentice can hold only one registered contract at a time.
• You have already completed an apprenticeship in the same trade. The scheme is for first-time training, not repetition.
• You are not a Gujarat candidate and are looking for the state share. The national apprenticeship framework is open across India, but a state top-up is a Gujarat matter.
• You are seeking a job rather than training. An apprenticeship carries no guarantee of permanent employment with the establishment.

How to apply for Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana

1. Create a candidate profile on the national apprenticeship portal at apprenticeshipindia.gov.in, using your Aadhaar number, mobile number and email address, and verify the OTP.
2. Complete the profile in full: educational qualifications, ITI trade certificate if you have one, district and preferred trades. Incomplete profiles do not surface in establishment searches, which is the most common reason a candidate never hears back.
3. Search and apply for apprenticeship openings advertised by establishments located in Gujarat, filtering by trade, district and qualification.
4. Attend the establishment's selection process — a short interview, a trade test, or both, depending on the employer.
5. Sign the apprenticeship contract generated on the portal once you are selected, and confirm that the establishment has registered it. An unregistered contract carries no legal or scheme benefit.
6. Give your bank account details to the establishment so that the stipend can be paid to you directly.
7. Complete the training period, maintain attendance, and sit the assessment at the end to obtain your apprenticeship certificate.

How does an establishment claim the state share?

1. Register the establishment on apprenticeshipindia.gov.in and complete the organisation profile.
2. Declare apprenticeship seats trade-wise, in line with the establishment's obligation under the Apprentices Act, 1961.
3. Engage the selected candidates and register each apprenticeship contract on the portal.
4. Pay the monthly stipend to each apprentice's bank account and keep the payment records.
5. File the claim for the state share with the Directorate of Employment and Training in the manner specified in the scheme resolution, attaching contract details and stipend payment proof.
6. Maintain apprenticeship records for inspection by the Apprenticeship Adviser's office.

Where do I get help with an apprenticeship in Gujarat?

• Directorate of Employment and Training, Gujarat; det.gujarat.gov.in, the state apprenticeship authority and the office to approach for the current state stipend rate and claim procedure.
• Apprenticeship Adviser, Gujarat, within DET, for contract registration and stipend disputes.
• District Employment Exchange or Model Career Centre, for help finding establishments engaging apprentices in your district.
• Your ITI's placement or apprenticeship cell, if you are an ITI trainee or pass-out. ITIs are the single most effective route into an apprenticeship seat in Gujarat.
• apprenticeshipindia.gov.in support, for portal registration and profile problems.
• Labour, Skill Development and Employment Department, labour.gujarat.gov.in, as the administrative department above DET.

What else does Gujarat run alongside this scheme?

The Directorate of Employment and Training lists several training schemes that sit next to apprenticeship, and candidates often benefit from knowing which one fits them:

• Craftsman Training Scheme, the long-form ITI trade training programme that produces the National Trade Certificate.
• Dual System of Training, where an ITI trainee splits time between the institute and an industry partner.
• Namo Kaushalya Laxmi Scheme, a Gujarat scheme in the skill development space.
• PM SETU, listed by DET among its training initiatives.

An ITI pass-out who then takes an apprenticeship has both a trade certificate and documented industry experience, which is the combination Gujarat's manufacturing and engineering employers hire from most often.

A caution on unverified figures

Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana is administered through government resolutions rather than through a standalone public scheme portal, and stipend rates have been revised over the life of the scheme. Several unofficial websites quote specific monthly amounts by qualification level. Before you accept any such figure, confirm it with the Directorate of Employment and Training or the Apprenticeship Adviser's office, particularly if you are an employer budgeting for a claim. Registration on apprenticeshipindia.gov.in is free, no agent can place you in an apprenticeship seat for a fee, and no official will ask for your OTP or bank password.

How to check your application status

Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana does not run its own status portal. Because every candidate profile, establishment listing and apprenticeship contract sits on the national apprenticeship portal, that is also where the status of each step is tracked. The state's role, adding and disbursing the Gujarat stipend share, is checked separately with the Directorate of Employment and Training.

For a candidate, checking where things stand:

1. Log in to your profile on apprenticeshipindia.gov.in with your registered mobile number or email.
2. Open the applications or contracts section of your dashboard. Each application you have sent to an establishment shows a status such as applied, shortlisted, selected, or rejected.
3. If you have been selected, check whether the contract shows as registered. A contract that is still pending signature or pending approval is not yet a live apprenticeship, and no stipend, state or employer, is due until it is registered.
4. If your profile shows no movement for several weeks, treat that as a sign to widen your search rather than wait, since the portal does not send an explicit rejection notice for every application that goes unanswered.

For the state stipend share specifically:

• The stipend itself is paid by the establishment to the apprentice's bank account every month; that payment, not a portal status flag, is the practical proof that the arrangement is active.
• Whether the establishment has been reimbursed its state share is a matter between the establishment and the Directorate of Employment and Training, and is tracked through the claim the establishment files, not through the apprentice's own login.
• An apprentice who wants to confirm that the state share is actually being claimed for their contract can ask the establishment's HR or apprenticeship coordinator, or contact the Apprenticeship Adviser's office within DET, quoting the registered contract number.

For an establishment tracking a claim:

1. Keep a record of the claim reference or acknowledgement issued when the claim for the state share was filed with DET, since the scheme does not currently expose a public online claim-tracking screen.
2. Follow up with the Directorate of Employment and Training, Gujarat (det.gujarat.gov.in) or the Apprenticeship Adviser's office directly, referencing the establishment's registration ID and the apprentice contract numbers in the claim.
3. Where a district-level nodal officer or Model Career Centre has been designated for apprenticeship claims in your district, a claim can often be followed up faster there than through a head-office enquiry.

Because MAY runs on resolution-based administration rather than a dedicated scheme dashboard, treat the national portal as the source of truth for whether an apprenticeship exists and is registered, and treat DET as the source of truth for whether the state's stipend share against it has been paid.

Common reasons for rejection

Most setbacks under Mukhyamantri Apprenticeship Yojana happen before a rejection is even recorded, because an incomplete profile or an unregistered contract simply never converts into a paid apprenticeship. The reasons below cover both the candidate side and the establishment's claim side.

• Incomplete or generic candidate profile. A profile missing the ITI trade certificate, educational documents, or a clear trade preference rarely surfaces when an establishment searches for candidates. Fix: fill every field on the apprenticeshipindia.gov.in profile, including district and specific trade codes, before applying anywhere.
• Entry qualification does not match the notified trade. Establishments notify a specific qualification, such as Class 10 pass or an ITI certificate in a named trade, for each seat, and a candidate without that exact qualification is screened out at the application stage. Fix: apply only to openings whose stated qualification you actually hold, and check the trade code carefully rather than the trade name alone.
• Below the statutory minimum age for the trade. Hazardous-industry trades require 18 years even though the general minimum under the Apprentices Act is 14. Fix: confirm the age requirement for the specific trade before applying, not the general minimum.
• Already holding an active apprenticeship contract elsewhere. The portal allows only one live registered contract per apprentice at a time, and a second application while one is active is not processed. Fix: formally close or complete the existing contract before starting a fresh one.
• Contract signed but never registered on the portal. An establishment sometimes engages a candidate informally and delays registering the contract, which means no stipend obligation and no scheme benefit legally exists yet. Fix: as a candidate, insist on seeing the registered contract before starting work; as an establishment, register every engaged apprentice promptly rather than after the fact.
• State claim filed without complete stipend payment proof. An establishment's claim for the state share is held back or returned when payment records for the apprentice's monthly stipend are missing, inconsistent, or do not match the registered contract period. Fix: maintain bank payment records for every apprentice month by month and attach them exactly as the DET claim format requires.
• Claim filed for an unregistered or lapsed contract. DET can only reimburse a state share against a contract that is properly registered and still within its valid training period; a claim referencing an expired or informally extended contract is rejected. Fix: renew or re-register a contract formally before its term lapses if the training period is being extended.
• Bank account details mismatched or not in the apprentice's own name. Stipend transfers fail or are held when the account provided does not match the apprentice's registered identity. Fix: use an active bank account held in the apprentice's own name and update it on record before the first stipend cycle.
• Seeking the scheme as a job placement rather than training. Some applicants treat an apprenticeship opening as a hiring vacancy and are turned away when it becomes clear they are not seeking to undergo the prescribed training period. Fix: approach apprenticeship as a fixed-term training engagement, understanding that it carries no employment guarantee at the end.