The government is set to formally launch the Prime Minister Internship Scheme on December 2, kicking off one of its most ambitious announcements in the Union Budget 2024-25 and formal letters of internship will be handed over to candidates.
As part of the pilot run that aims to place 125,000 candidates with top Indian companies, the online portal for the scheme was opened on October 3 for companies and candidates were allowed to apply from October 12.
The selection process is currently underway. Candidates have been asked to make a decision on the internship offers within two days of receiving them. As per an official announcement, selected candidates must join the internship on or before November 30 in order to be eligible for the one-time grant of Rs 6,000, which will be disbursed on December 2.
A total of 127,000 internship opportunities were posted by companies for the scheme. Against these, approximately 621,000 applications have been received, Minister of State of Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra recently informed the Lok Sabha.
“The portal was opened for registrations of the youth from October 12, 2024 to November 15, 2024; a total of 4.87 lakh eligible applicants completed their KYC and registered themselves during this time period,” he had said in reply to an unstarred question.
An amount of Rs 2,000 crore was allocated in the Budget for FY25, out of which Rs 6.04 crore had been spent till November 20.
The PM Internship Scheme aims to place 10 million candidates over a five-year period in top 500 companies. The list of the top 500 companies is based on their average corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure in the last three years and participation is voluntary.
Candidates between the age of 21 and 24 years old, who have passed at least Class 10, have the opportunity to intern for a 12 month period under the scheme. The government will pay them Rs 4,500 monthly stipend and the company will pay another Rs 500 per month to each candidate.