diff --git a/cvat-sdk/cvat_sdk/pytorch/__init__.py b/cvat-sdk/cvat_sdk/pytorch/__init__.py
index 7812954548d9..d8082e85744a 100644
--- a/cvat-sdk/cvat_sdk/pytorch/__init__.py
+++ b/cvat-sdk/cvat_sdk/pytorch/__init__.py
@@ -66,8 +66,7 @@ class Target:
     label_id_to_index: Mapping[int, int]
     """
     A mapping from label_id values in `LabeledImage` and `LabeledShape` objects
-    to an index in the range [0, num_labels), where num_labels is the number of labels
-    defined in the task. This mapping is consistent across all samples for a given task.
+    to an integer index. This mapping is consistent across all samples for a given task.
     """
 
 
@@ -100,6 +99,7 @@ def __init__(
         transforms: Optional[Callable] = None,
         transform: Optional[Callable] = None,
         target_transform: Optional[Callable] = None,
+        label_name_to_index: Mapping[str, int] = None,
     ) -> None:
         """
         Creates a dataset corresponding to the task with ID `task_id` on the
@@ -108,6 +108,17 @@ def __init__(
         `transforms`, `transform` and `target_transforms` are optional transformation
         functions; see the documentation for `torchvision.datasets.VisionDataset` for
         more information.
+
+        `label_name_to_index` affects the `label_id_to_index` member in `Target` objects
+        returned by the dataset. If it is specified, then it must contain an entry for
+        each label name in the task. The `label_id_to_index` mapping will be constructed
+        so that each label will be mapped to the index corresponding to the label's name
+        in `label_name_to_index`.
+
+        If `label_name_to_index` is unspecified or set to `None`, then `label_id_to_index`
+        will map each label ID to a distinct integer in the range [0, `num_labels`), where
+        `num_labels` is the number of labels defined in the task. This mapping will be
+        generally unpredictable, but consistent for a given task.
         """
 
         self._logger = client.logger
@@ -163,12 +174,20 @@ def __init__(
 
         self._logger.info("All chunks downloaded")
 
-        self._label_id_to_index = types.MappingProxyType(
-            {
-                label["id"]: label_index
-                for label_index, label in enumerate(sorted(self._task.labels, key=lambda l: l.id))
-            }
-        )
+        if label_name_to_index is None:
+            self._label_id_to_index = types.MappingProxyType(
+                {
+                    label.id: label_index
+                    for label_index, label in enumerate(sorted(self._task.labels, key=lambda l: l.id))
+                }
+            )
+        else:
+            self._label_id_to_index = types.MappingProxyType(
+                {
+                    label.id: label_name_to_index[label.name]
+                    for label in self._task.labels
+                }
+            )
 
         annotations = self._ensure_model(
             "annotations.json", LabeledData, self._task.get_annotations, "annotations"
diff --git a/tests/python/sdk/test_pytorch.py b/tests/python/sdk/test_pytorch.py
index 5be990c60fb8..b4f0238beab4 100644
--- a/tests/python/sdk/test_pytorch.py
+++ b/tests/python/sdk/test_pytorch.py
@@ -211,3 +211,18 @@ def test_transforms(self):
 
         assert isinstance(dataset[0][0], cvatpt.Target)
         assert isinstance(dataset[0][1], PIL.Image.Image)
+
+    def test_custom_label_mapping(self):
+        label_name_to_id = {
+            label.name: label.id for label in self.task.labels
+        }
+
+        dataset = cvatpt.TaskVisionDataset(
+            self.client,
+            self.task.id,
+            label_name_to_index={"person": 123, "car": 456},
+        )
+
+        _, target = dataset[5]
+        assert target.label_id_to_index[label_name_to_id["person"]] == 123
+        assert target.label_id_to_index[label_name_to_id["car"]] == 456