Eight formats for the whole internship, editable in Word: the internship offer letter for a paid or unpaid intern, the stipend letter, the undertaking, and the internship certificate format for the last day.
Editable Word, blanks in square brackets, each with what it rests on. Penalties, open questions and citations at the back.
An offer letter for a paid intern that doubles as an unpaid internship letter, and a version for a student whose college requires the internship, with the college's copy in mind. The UGC's 2023 guidelines make a 60 to 120 hour internship after the fourth semester mandatory for undergraduates, but they bind colleges, not employers: the terms are yours and the college's to agree.
Confidentiality, conduct and an assignment of what the intern creates, in writing and signed, because the Copyright Act's default for an employer is written for a contract of service or apprenticeship. It carries no non-compete; the confidentiality pack for permanent staff explains why one would be void to that extent.
A stipend letter with the amount, the pay date and any deduction, which serves again for a revision. On our reading a stipend paid for work is wages and cannot fall below the minimum rate your State notifies for that work. That State rate is the one that binds you: a floor wage under section 9 limits governments setting rates, not employers, and we found no notification fixing one.
One letter that extends the internship to a new end date, or ends it early with the reason and the last day. An intern you want to keep is better offered a job: give them a proper appointment letter for the role rather than a third extension.
An internship completion certificate, an internship experience letter with the work done and the skills shown, and an exit checklist both sides tick. For leavers on the payroll, use the relieving and experience letter pack for staff instead.
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) computes pay from attendance and leave records, so interns and staff sit in one place.
Most internship letter formats online skip the one question that decides everything after it: is this person an intern, an apprentice or an employee?
None of the four labour Codes uses the word intern. The Code on Wages, the OSH Code, the Social Security Code and the IR Code each define an employee as a person employed on wages, or for hire or reward, and the only trainee they leave out by name is an apprentice engaged under the Apprentices Act, 1961, which needs a contract of apprenticeship. So a paid intern is, on our reading, an employee under each Code, whatever the letter calls them. One doing technical, operational or clerical work is also a worker under s.2(zr) of the IR Code, unless employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity.
Then the money. Section 5 of the Code on Wages says no employer shall pay any employee less than the notified minimum rate, and on our reading calling the payment a stipend does not change that. Paying less is a fine of up to ₹50,000 under s.54(1)(a), and the authority hearing a claim may order compensation up to ten times the amount (s.45). Where twenty or more employees work, the EPF Scheme 2026 makes every employee a member of the provident fund from the date of joining, and its only excluded employees are those above the ₹25,000 wage ceiling and certain international workers, so on our reading a paid intern who is an employee needs the declaration that replaced Form 11. ESI follows at ten or more employees, within ESIC's coverage limit.
An unpaid internship is neither permitted nor forbidden by any central law we found. On our reading a student there to learn, paid nothing, is outside the wage Codes; an unpaid internship that is a job in substance is the risk, because the Codes read the terms of employment express or implied, not the title. Paid or unpaid, the POSH Act reaches a woman intern. It does not use the word intern, but its definition of employee covers a trainee, an apprentice or anyone called by any other such name, whether for remuneration or not. Where ten or more work, your Internal Committee takes a woman intern's complaint; below ten it goes to the Local Committee.
The same pack serves a plant hosting engineering interns, an IT firm running a summer intern batch and a hospital taking on administration interns: the work changes, the paperwork questions do not.
Two questions decide it: is the internship part of a college course, and will the intern be paid?
| Situation | Who signs | Paid? | When | Rests on | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taking on an intern | Employer | Stipend or unpaid | Before day one | Contract | 01 |
| A college-required internship | Employer, college copy | Either | Before day one | College letter | 02 |
| Accepting the offer | Intern | Either | Before day one | Copyright s.19 | 03 |
| Setting or changing the stipend | Employer | Paid | Before it applies | Contract; tax | 04 |
| Every internship | Employer | Either | Last day | None found | 06 |
Where ten or more work, the Internal Committee hears complaints, a woman intern's included; below ten they go to the Local Committee.
Source: Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, s.4(1), s.6(1)For failing to constitute an Internal Committee or any other breach of the Act or its rules, with twice that on a repeat.
Source: Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, s.26(1) and (2)A copyright assignment must be in writing and signed by the intern. If it states no period it is deemed to run for five years, so Format 03 states one.
Source: Copyright Act, 1957, s.19(1), (2) and (5)An apprentice is engaged only under a contract of apprenticeship under the Apprentices Act, 1961, with a guardian signing for a minor. An offer letter is not that contract.
A paid intern on regular work is, on our reading, an employee under the Codes: owed at least the minimum rate and, where twenty or more are employed, PF from the date of joining. The title does not change that.
The POSH Act does not use the word intern, but it reaches a trainee or anyone called by any other such name, paid or not. Tell interns who sits on the Internal Committee on day one.
The Copyright Act's employer default is written for a contract of service or apprenticeship, and on our reading an intern may be neither. Take a signed assignment naming the work, the rights, the period, the territory and what is paid for it.
An agreement that restrains anyone from a lawful profession is void to that extent under section 27 of the Contract Act, whose only exception is a sale of goodwill. Protect information instead.
The exemption covers a scholarship granted to meet the cost of education. A stipend paid for work is not that. Where tax is deducted, the intern is owed Form No. 130, which replaced Form 16.
One page, the last day
Eight formats, editable Word
Offer, stipend, undertaking, certificate and exit in one file. The NDA and relieving packs sit with our free hiring and onboarding formats.
Attendo (formerly Petpooja Payroll) is payroll and attendance software used by 40,000+ businesses across manufacturing, corporate offices, hospitals, retail and education, on a flat annual fee with no per-employee pricing. General guidance, not legal advice.
Eight formats, from the internship offer letter format in Word to the completion certificate. Free.
