There is no single Indian law that requires every internship to be paid. Unpaid internships are generally legal when they are primarily educational, tied to an academic requirement, and don't involve doing the regular, ongoing work of a paid employee. They become a legal and ethical problem when an intern effectively replaces paid staff, works long hours for months unpaid, or is charged a fee to 'get' the internship — that last one is always a red flag, paid or unpaid.
Unlike apprentices hired under the Apprentices Act (where a stipend is legally mandatory), there is no equivalent nationwide law that forces every private-sector internship to carry a paid stipend. Whether an internship is paid is largely left to the employer, the industry, and what the internship actually involves.
Courts and labour authorities generally look at substance over the label 'intern': if someone is doing the same ongoing work as a regular employee, for real business hours, over an extended period, they may be entitled to be treated — and paid — as an employee regardless of what the offer letter calls them.
There is an active push in India — including public interest litigation — to formally cap how long an unpaid internship can run without academic justification, and to create clearer oversight of internship practices. Until that becomes settled law, the safest approach as a student is to treat any unpaid, long-duration, full-time role with the same scrutiny as a job offer, and to prefer programs that are transparent, structured, and either paid or clearly time-boxed and academic.
Every internship we feature is paid (₹3,000–₹7,000/month), comes with a written offer letter, real mentorship and a completion certificate — never a fee to apply.
Apply on WhatsApp