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Apprentices Act, 1961

Section 3: Qualifications for being engaged as an apprentice

Section 3 of the Apprentices Act, 1961 explained with current 2025-26 amendments, employer controls, evidence and connected Rules.

Law Hub L8Data reviewed on 17 July 2026India-first compliance

What section 3 does

Creates the basic age, education and physical-fitness gate for designated-trade apprentices.

Connected instrument: Rules 3 and 4

Finin2min practical reading

  • Identify the apprentice category, trade, establishment jurisdiction and applicable portal before applying the provision.
  • Separate statutory apprenticeship from internships, probation, traineeships and ordinary employment.
  • Do not treat scheme reimbursement as a substitute for the employer’s underlying statutory obligations.
  • Preserve the contract, approvals, portal trail and training evidence as one auditable file.

Employer control and evidence pack

  • Executed/registered contract and portal acknowledgement
  • Training plan, attendance/work diary and supervisor records
  • Stipend bank/DBT evidence where relevant
  • Adviser approval, correspondence or order where the section requires it

Statutory text extract

Extracted from the bundled official/consolidated source. For sections amended in 2026, the current overlay above controls over older consolidated wording.

3. Qualifications for being engaged as an apprentice.—A person shall not be qualified for being
engaged as an apprentice to undergo apprenticeship training in any designated trade, unless he—
          1
         [(a) is not less than fourteen years of age, and for designated trades related to hazardous
     industries, not less than eighteen years of age; and]
          (b) satisfies such standards of education and physical fitness as may be prescribed:
    Provided that different standards may be prescribed in relation to apprenticeship training in different
designated trades2[and for different categories of apprentices].
     3

Compliance consequence

Failure should be tested against sections 30, 31 and 31A as in force from 22 June 2026, alongside contract termination/compensation consequences and any portal or scheme action.

← Section 2Section 3A →