Parliament Question: PM Internship Scheme

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 180 ANSWERED ON MONDAY THE 1ST DECEMBER, 2025 AGRAHAYANA 10, 1947 (SAKA) PM INTERNSHIP SCHEME QUESTION 180.Ms. Sayani Ghosh: Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) the total number of students applied, selected in each phase, left withoutcompleting theinternship under the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme since its inception, phase-wise andyear-wise; (b) the total amount of funds allocated, disbursed and pending for disbursal under theScheme, year-wise; (c) whether it is a fact that the Scheme has witnessed a low rate of acceptance andparticipation by students and if so, the reasons identified for the same; (d) whether the Government has conducted any review of the effectiveness and outcomes ofthe Scheme in terms of skill development, employment and capacity building, if so, the detailsthereof; and (e) whether the Government proposes to make any changes or reforms in the design andimplementation of the Scheme to make it more attractive and beneficial for students and if so, thedetails thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS AND MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI HARSH MALHOTRA) (a) & (c): The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) was announced in the Budget 2024-25. It aims to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in top 500 companies in five years. As an initiation to this Scheme, Ministry of Corporate Affairs has launched a Pilot Project of the Scheme on 3rd October, 2024, which is targeted to provide 1.25 lakh internship opportunities to the youth in a year.In the round I of the PM Internship Scheme Pilot Project, the partner companies posted more than 1.27 lakh internship opportunities on the PMIS Portal across the country. Against this, more than 6.21 lakh applications were received from about 1.81 lakh candidates. Partner companies made over 82,000 internship offers to over 60,000 candidatesand over 8700 offers had been accepted.As on 26.11.2025, 4565 candidates from Round I have left the internship without completing. In the round II of the PM Internship Scheme Pilot Project, which commenced on 9th January, 2025, Partner Companies have posted over 1.18 lakh internship opportunities (new and edited unfilled opportunities of previous round) across the country. Over 4.55 lakh applications were received from over 2.14 lakh applicants, in this round. As on 26.11.2025, partner companies have made over 83000 offers to the youth and over 24600 offers have been accepted. As on 26.11.2025, 2053 candidates from Round II have left the internship without completing. On the basis of concurrent evaluation and feedback survey carried out by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, outbound calls made by the call center to the candidates and feedback received from various stakeholders, such as candidates, industry & industry associations and state governments, some of the reasons for low acceptance / joining which have been observed are given below: • Location is an important consideration and ideal travel distance indicated by candidates is between 5-10 km. • Internship period of 12 months is longer than that in normal skilling programs. • Some candidates are not interested in roles offered. (b): In the Budget Estimate of FY 2024-25, an amount of Rs. 2000 crores was allocated to Ministry of Corporate Affairs for PM Internship Scheme. For the Pilot Project of the PM Internship Scheme, targeted at providing 1.25 lakh internship opportunities to the youth, an amount of Rs. 840 crore was approved. Revised Estimate was arrived at Rs. 380 crores in the FY 2024-25. For the FY 2025-26, an amount of Rs. 10831.07 crore has been allocated. Approximately Rs. 73.72 crore has been utilized towards the pilot project of the PM Internship Scheme as on 30.09.2025. (d): Under the PMIS Pilot Project, the company is expected to provide the person an actual working experience on a skill in which the company is directly involved. It provides an opportunity to the youth to get training and gain experience and skills within the real-life environment of various businesses or organizations with the objective of enhancing their employability by bridging the gap between academic learning and industry requirements.As per guidelines of the pilot project, a concurrent Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework is provided to enable tracking of the outcomes as well as to ensure corrective actions during the course of implementation of the pilot project. Additionally, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is gathering feedback from various stakeholders such as Industry, State governments, Industry associations, Educational institutions etc. to analyze the scheme’s impact as it continues to be implemented. (e): The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is actively working with various stakeholders such as state governments, central government ministries & departments, and industry associations for promotion and implementation of the scheme. Further, MCA is actively collaborating with State Governments to carry out extensive Information, Education and Communication activities, including workshops, seminars, and promotional campaigns - both online and on-ground to amplify program visibility and to reach out to the target groups in the states. Pilot Project is a pivotal phase that has allowed for testing concepts, strategies and systems before a full-scale implementation. The full-scale roll-out of the PM Internship Scheme would be based on the feedback received from the stakeholder consultations and evaluation of outcomes during the implementation of the Pilot Project. *****