Currently, fewer than 10,000 students are doing internships under the scheme, Ministry data shows
File picture: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said over 82,000 internship offers were made by partner companies to over 60,000 candidates | Photo Credit: –
A little over 30 per cent of offers made under the PM Internship Scheme (PMIS) were accepted by candidates, data from the Corporate Affairs Ministry, presented in the Lok Sabha, shows. Currently, fewer than 10,000 students are doing internships under the scheme.
In a written response, Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in round one of the pilot project, over 82,000 internship offers were made by partner companies to over 60,000 candidates. While 28,000 candidates accepted the offers, over 8,700 candidates joined their internship programme.
In the second round, as on July 15, partner companies had made over 71,000 offers. “Currently, offers are being rolled out and interns are in the process of accepting/ joining the internship,” the Finance Minister said.
An analysis of the data shows that in round one, while around 34 per cent of the offers were accepted, 31 per cent actually joined the internship.
In response to another question, Minister of State in the Corporate Affairs Ministry, Harsh Malhotra, said 9,453 youths are currently doing internships under the PMIS Pilot Project, with Assam leading with over 1,400 interns, followed by Uttar Pradesh with over 1,000, and Madhya Pradesh with over 680 candidates.
Though Sitharaman did not give reasons for the performance of the scheme, it is believed that candidates do not find the financial assistance very attractive. According to the Corporate Affairs Ministry, interns receive a monthly assistance of ₹5,000 for the entire duration of the 12-month internship. Of this amount, while the government provides ₹4,500, partner companies are required to give a minimum of ₹500 based on the intern’s attendance and related company policies regarding good conduct, etc. Additionally, each intern would receive a one-time grant of ₹6,000 and insurance facility from the Government.
As part of Budget 2024-25, PMIS aims to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in the top 500 companies in five years. Under the scheme, the company is expected to provide the person actual working experience on a skill in which the company is directly involved. At least half of the internship period would be spent in the actual work/ real-life business environment
Initiating the scheme, the Corporate Affairs Ministry had launched a pilot project on October 3, 2024 with a target of providing 1.25 lakh internship opportunities to the youth in one year. The second round of the pilot commenced on January 9, this year. “The total number of candidates who have completed their profiles and registration process under the PMIS Pilot Project is over 3.38 lakh in Round I and 3.46 lakh in Round II,” Sitharaman said.
In response to another question, Malhotra said the Budget Estimate for FY 2024-25 has allocated ₹2000 crore for PMIS. For the Pilot Project an amount of ₹840 crore was approved. Revised Estimate was arrived at ₹380 crore in FY 2024-25. For FY2025-26, an amount of ₹10,831.07 crore has been allocated. “Approximately ₹50 crore has been utilised under the scheme since inception,” he said.
Published on July 21, 2025
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