Employment · Template

Internship agreement format for India

The internship is the engagement most likely to be run on a WhatsApp message, and the one most likely to produce a surprise later: an intern who turns out to own the code they wrote, or a company that assumed the POSH Act did not reach them. The Act names interns expressly.

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When you need this

Before an intern starts, particularly one who will touch code, designs or customer data
When a college requires a letter of engagement before it will credit the internship
When you are paying a stipend and want it clear that it is not wages under a contract of employment
When the internship might lead to an offer, and you want no implied promise that it will
When the intern is under eighteen and a parent or guardian has to sign as well

What this document must contain

A fixed term, with a start and an end date — An internship with no end date starts to look like employment, and the label you used will not decide that question — the substance of the engagement will.
The stipend, and what it is not — Record it as support for a learning engagement rather than wages for work under a contract of employment, and state the payment cycle. If the engagement is in substance employment, calling the payment a stipend will not change the obligations that follow.
An express statement that this is not employment or apprenticeship — A contract of apprenticeship under the Apprentices Act, 1961 is a different legal relationship with its own registration, training and record-keeping duties. Say which one you have entered rather than leaving it to be worked out afterwards.
Assignment of the intern’s work product — The copyright vesting rule follows a contract of service, and an intern’s status is precisely the ambiguity you do not want sitting under a feature you shipped. Assign it expressly.
Confidentiality scoped to what an intern will actually see — Interns are routinely given production access and customer data on day two. The obligation should be plain enough that an undergraduate reads it and understands it.
POSH cover, stated, with the Internal Committee contact — An intern is covered by the POSH Act whether or not your agreement mentions it. Naming the Internal Committee and its email address is how the intern actually finds out that the route exists.
Supervision, and a completion certificate — A named mentor and a certificate at the end are what make this a learning engagement rather than unpaid labour with a nicer word attached.

The law that governs it

POSH Act, 2013 — s. 2(f) — The definition of "employee" expressly extends to a person engaged as an intern or a probationer, whether the engagement is for remuneration or not. An intern can therefore bring a complaint to your Internal Committee, and every workplace obligation under the Act runs to them.
Apprentices Act, 1961 — The Act governs apprentices engaged under a contract of apprenticeship, with its own obligations on stipend, training, registration and records. An internship is not automatically an apprenticeship, and the two should not be documented as though they were interchangeable.
Copyright Act, 1957 — s. 17 — First ownership of copyright turns on the work being made in the course of employment under a contract of service. Where the engagement is deliberately not employment, that route to ownership is not available and an express written assignment is what gives the company title.

Common mistakes

Running the internship on an email chain while directing the person exactly as you direct an employee
Assuming an unpaid internship carries fewer obligations — the POSH duty does not turn on whether you pay
Leaving intellectual property to inference, then finding that a shipped feature was written by someone who never assigned anything
Implying in writing that a job follows, without intending to commit to one
Not obtaining a guardian’s signature where the intern is a minor

Frequently asked questions

Is an intern covered by the POSH Act?

Yes, expressly. The definition of "employee" in s. 2(f) of the POSH Act, 2013 includes a person engaged as an intern or probationer, with or without remuneration. Your policy, your Internal Committee and your complaint process all extend to them from day one.

Do I have to pay provident fund or ESI on a stipend?

It depends on whether the relationship is in substance employment and on each scheme’s own applicability tests. A genuine fixed-term learning engagement paid a stipend is treated differently from employment, but the label on the document is not what decides it. Confirm the position for your establishment with whoever runs your payroll rather than assuming the word "intern" settles it.

Can an internship turn into employment automatically?

Not by itself, but conduct can create an expectation — an intern kept on indefinitely, given employee duties and reviewed like an employee is not obviously an intern any more. If you do not intend an offer to follow, say so in the agreement and keep the engagement genuinely time-bound.

Is an internship the same as an apprenticeship?

No. An apprenticeship under the Apprentices Act, 1961 is a registered contract with statutory training and stipend obligations attached. An internship is an ordinary contractual engagement. Documenting one as the other creates obligations you did not plan for, or forfeits protections you thought you had.