PM internship scheme to be rolled-out in December on pilot basis

The Prime Minister’s internship scheme, which seeks to train one crore youth in top 500 companies over the next five years, will be rolled out from December 2 on a pilot basis, government sources said.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has developed a portal that will act as a centralised platform for managing the entire internship lifecycle. The ministry on Thursday opened the portal for the companies, desirous of participating in the scheme, to list their requirements.

Within a couple of hours of opening of the portal, three companies - Mahindra & Mahindra, Max Life Insurance and Alembic Pharma - registered as ‘partner companies’ for the internship scheme. By 11 am, 1,077 internship opportunities were registered by these companies in production and process related works.

The portal will be opened for candidates’ registration on October 12, Dussehra, considered an auspicious occasion to start business or activities. Candidates will get around two weeks to register for the first phase of the scheme. Following that, the ministry will shortlist the candidates and provide them to the relevant companies.

Selected candidates will be given time between November 8-15 to accept the internship offers and training will start from December 2.

The government targets to enroll 1.25 lakh interns in the current financial year, a top official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

Under this scheme, announced in the Union Budget 2024-25 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, interns will get a monthly payment of Rs 5,000. Out of this, Rs 4,500 will be given by the centre through direct benefit transfer, while the companies will be required to pay Rs 500 from their CSR funds.

In addition to this, a one-time grant of Rs 6,000 for incidentals will be disbursed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to each intern upon joining the place of internship. The candidates will also be provided insurance coverage under PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and PM Suraksha Bima Yojana.

The government expects to spend Rs 800 crore on the scheme in the current fiscal year. This will be a centrally sponsored scheme, thus funded 100% by the centre.

The participation of the companies in the scheme is voluntary. For the pilot project the government has identified the top 500 companies on the basis of the average of their CSR expenditure in the last three years, the official said.

The scheme has not yet been approved by the cabinet, which will likely be before the end of the current financial year, the person added.

The duration of the internship will be 12 months. Youth aged between 21 and 24 years, whose family income is less than Rs 8 lakh, can apply for the scheme. Children or spouses of government employees are not eligible for the scheme.