PM Internship Scheme Gets 1.5 Lakh Young Applicants Within Two Days Of Launch

Over 1.55 lakh youth across the country have applied so far for the PM Internship Scheme since Saturday, when the government officially started accepting registrations.

A total of 91,000 internship opportunities across 24 sectors have been added on the scheme's portal, according to government sources.

The Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme aims to provide internship to one crore youth in top 500 companies over five years. It had opened the portal for companies to register their internship opportunities for the pilot phase from Oct. 3.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the implementing ministry for the scheme, had posted on X that the portal would go live for registration of the candidates from 5:00 p.m. onwards on Oct. 11. Candidates can register on pminternship.mca.gov.in.

“The number of registrations has reached 1,55,109 since the portal went live. The total internship postings will soon cross the one lakh mark with more companies expected to be added to the list," an MCA source told NDTV Profit.

Sources in the MCA said Internship opportunities have been posted by 193 companies, including major private sector players such as Jubilant FoodWorks, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Eicher Motor Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Muthoot Finance Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., etc.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Max Life Insurance Ltd. were the first to list their internship opportunities on the portal.

On the eve of the portal opening for applicants, the number of opportunities posted on the portal was 90,849.

Most internship listings are from the oil, gas and energy sector, followed by travel and hospitality, automotives, and banking and financial services. 

Internships are available in over 20 fields, including operations management, production and manufacturing, maintenance, sales and marketing.

The internship opportunities are spread across the length and breadth of the country, and having been made available in 737 districts, spread over 37 states and union territories.

As part of the process, between Oct. 27 and Nov. 7, the internal panel of Corporate Affairs Ministry will share the shortlisted entries with the respective companies.

Candidates will have time to accept the offer between Nov. 8 and Nov. 15. Two more offers will be made, in case the first offer does not work out, sources said.

The pilot phase, which will run through several layers of matching profiles, selection of candidates and giving them offer letters, aims to provide internship opportunities to 1.25 lakh candidates. The scheme involves a cost of Rs 800 crore for the government. 

Selected interns will be paid Rs 4,500 per month as stipend by the government through Direct Benefit Transfer. An additional Rs 500 per month will be provided by the company’s corporate social responsibility funds.

The government will also provide a one-time grant of Rs 6,000 to candidates at the time of joining through DBT.

Besides, the Centre will ensure interns are covered under schemes such as the ‘PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana’ and ‘PM Suraksha Bima Yojana’, with the insurance premiums paid by the government.