Apprentices are engaged by following the Apprentice Act of 1961. In order to engage apprentices, you have to register under the Apprentice portal of the Government of India. There are two types of apprentices, namely, Designated Trade apprentices and Optional Trade Apprentices. For more details, visit the official website https://www.apprenticeshipindia.gov.in/
If you do not wish to have apprentices but would like to employ freshers as trainees, then you need not register under the above-mentioned portal. Instead, you can take trainees in various departments. However, the trainees are considered employees for all purposes under labor law. Therefore, they should not be deprived of any rights conferred to a worker under the law. Trainees should be given minimum wages prescribed by the government, provided with ESI/EPF subject to their salary, offered bonuses, entitled to leave with wages, and their training period should be considered when calculating their gratuity upon discharge. Simply put, hiring employees as trainees should not be viewed as a means to reduce the burden on the employer.