The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) is likely to launch the full-fledged version of the PM Internship Scheme by September this year, after incorporating the learnings from the ongoing pilot programme, according to a senior government official.
"In another five to six months, we should see the scheme having a proper launch. The pilot has given us a lot of learnings,' the official added. The pilot of the scheme was launched on October 3, 2024. The MCA will have to get the Cabinet's approval for the launch of the full scheme. In the Union Budget 2025-2026 (FY26), the allocation for the internship scheme was increased to Rs 10,831.07 crore from Rs 380 crore in the Revised Estimate for FY25.
The scheme, meant to improve the employability of youth, has seen poor acceptance among the interns so far due to factors such as location and duration of internship. In the first round of the scheme's pilot, more than 127,000 internship opportunities were provided, and the second round saw around 115,000 internships.
Starting December 2024, about 8,700 interns have joined the scheme out of more than 28,000 candidates who accepted the offers, according to a standing committee report. The application phase for the second round of the scheme's pilot is underway, and April 15 is the last date to apply, the MCA recently said in a statement.
A parliamentary panel has taken note of the issues facing the scheme, such as the mismatch between the number of internship opportunities offered and actual participation, imbalanced gender ratio of interns, and underutilisation of funds.
The MCA has told the committee that location is an important consideration, and the ideal travel distance is between five and 10 km for the interns. Longer duration of internships and the lack of alignment between candidates' interests and the roles offered were also reasons for the low acceptance of the scheme, besides the request to bring down the age criteria for applicants from industrial training institutes and polytechnics.
The top 500 companies, on the basis of their average corporate social responsibility spending for the past three years, would be included in the scheme.
These companies can also tie up with entities in their forward and backward value chain, such as suppliers, customers, and vendors. They can take this scheme up voluntarily. Other companies can also participate with the approval of MCA.
Ruchika Chitravanshi, Business Standard
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