Based on the review of the two pilot phases carried out for the PM Internship Scheme (PMIS), the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is planning to undertake certain tweaks in the scheme. Work is currently underway for preparing an internal note that will be sent for a final approval from the Union Cabinet soon, a government source said.
Companies beyond the top 500 have shown the intent to participate in the scheme, the source said, adding that industry chambers such as CII and Ficci have also reached out to the government to extend its support for the proposed changes in the scheme.
“The government will bring in some tweaks in the scheme based on its experience from the pilots. It will have to be approved by the Cabinet. The Cabinet note process is on,” the source said.
Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 4,500 is provided per month by the Government of India to selected candidates through Direct Benefit Transfer, with an additional Rs 500 offset provided by the company’s CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds. Many companies are providing additional compensation to the candidates along with incurring their expenses for travel, food and accommodation, sources said.
In its second pilot round, the scheme had drawn internship postings from 327 companies, up from around 280 in the first round. Announced in the Union Budget for 2024-25 in July last year, the scheme aims to provide internships to 1 crore youth in top 500 companies over five years.
In the first round of the pilot, which was conducted between October and December last year, over 1.27 lakh opportunities were posted and over 82,000 offers were made to successful candidates. The number of candidates who accepted internship offers was lower than expected in the first round, with just around 8,000 taking up offers till February 6, The Indian Express had earlier reported.
In the second round, which began in January, around 1.18 lakh internship opportunities were listed, spread across 735 districts. To improve the acceptability of the scheme, the government had made some changes like providing details of the company, the internship opportunity and the exact location (along with geotagging) so that candidates know a priori how far they have to travel. Earlier, such details were not provided upfront to candidates. The number of participants is learnt to have picked up in the second round.
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The internship scheme was a part of the Prime Minister’s Package for Employment and Skilling announced in the 2024-25 Budget with an overall outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore. Initially, Rs 2,000 crore was provided to the Corporate Affairs Ministry for the ongoing financial year.
In the revised estimates for 2024-25, the amount allocated for the scheme was scaled down to Rs 380 crore. For 2025-26, an amount of Rs 10,831 crore has been provided in the Budget, including Rs 59.77 crore of capital outlay.
