PM Internship Scheme’s launch delayed, new date awaited: Report

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The postponement is due to a review of the insights gained from the pilot scheme which aims to provide internship opportunities for 1.25 lakh students at top Indian firms, according to a Business Today report.

The internship scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2024-25 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and in the longer run of a five-year period, targeted to provide internship opportunities to one crore students.

Candidates between the age of 21 and 24 years, who have passed at least Class 10, are eligible for the scheme, with the government also paying each candidate a one time allowance of ₹6,000 along with a monthly stipend of ₹4,500 and the company paying another ₹500 per month to them.

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This was to improve the employability of the country’s youth by giving them exposure to working in large companies.

For this, the government allocated ₹2,000 crore in the budget out of which ₹6.04 crore has been spent till November 20, the report read.

The pilot run saw 1.27 lakh internship opportunities posted by companies with 6.21 lakh applications received after the portal was opened for registrations from October 12, 2024 to November 15, 2024. according to the report.

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The scheme’s list of top 500 companies is based on their average Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure over the last three years with participation in the scheme being voluntary.