Parliament Question: Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) in West Bengal

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2618 ANSWERED ON MONDAY THE 9TH MARCH, 2026 PHALGUNA 18, 1947 (SAKA) PRIME MINISTER INTERNSHIP SCHEME (PMIS) IN WEST BENGAL QUESTION

2618. Shri Saumitra Khan:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the total number of internship opportunities posted by partner companies under Round I and Round II of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) in West Bengal along with the details of the cities in which these internship positions were offered;

(b) the number of applications received, offers made and internship acceptances recorded in both rounds of PMIS, State-wise, with district-wise data for West Bengal;

(c) whether the Government has undertaken any analysis for non-acceptance of offers or low joining rates in West Bengal and if so, the findings thereof;

(d) whether any specific steps have been taken to improve participation and internship completion in aspirational and educationally backward districts of the State, if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the roadmap for expansion of PMIS and proposals received from the Government of West Bengal? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS AND MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS [SHRI HARSH MALHOTRA]

(a): The total number of internship opportunities posted by partner companies in West Bengal are 4577 and 4428 for Round I and Round II respectively. The city-wise data in respect of internship opportunities is not maintained.

(b): The details of number of applications received, offers made by the companies and offers accepted by candidates under Round I and Round II of PMIS state-wise and district-wise for West Bengal, are at Annexure I and II respectively.

(c): The analysis for non-acceptance of offers or low joining rates has been done for the entire country including West Bengal.On the basis of independent 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.

(d): No special steps have been taken for such districts of West Bengal. However, following major steps were taken to improve the implementation and outcomes of

the scheme throughout the country including West Bengal:-

1. Portal Improvement: functionality for geo-tagging internship location, moving vacancies and candidates between one location to another and, more visibility of additional benefits given by companies to the candidates.

2. Targeted Information, Education and Communications (IEC) activities

3. Active engagement and coordination with States, UTs, Ministries and Departments of the Central Government and Industry Associations for enhancing the outreach of the scheme.

4. Active engagement with industry to ensure meaningful internship experience for the interns to enhance their skills and employability, including reporting of quarterly progress of the interns by the companies.

(e): The Pilot Project is a pivotal phase that allows for testing concepts, strategies and systems before a full-scale implementation. Based on the feedback received and evaluation of outcomes during the implementation of the Pilot Project, lessons drawn will be factored in while rolling out the first phase of the main scheme.

No proposal has been received from the Government of West Bengal. *****Annexure I Annexure I to the Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 2618 to be answered on 09.03.2026.

State-wise details of the number of applications received, offers made to candidates and offers accepted by candidates in Round I Total Total Offers Offers S.

States Applications Made by Accepted by No. received Companies the Candidates 1 ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS 60 20 7 2 ANDHRA PRADESH 62405 6164 1970 3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 122 29 14 4 ASSAM 26785 3843 1780 5 BIHAR 47706 5668 2418 6 CHANDIGARH 578 117 35 7 CHHATTISGARH 13977 2284 806 DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI AND 8 137 40 12 DAMAN AND DIU 9 DELHI 17863 2698 1000 10 GOA 132 28 7 11 GUJARAT 20109 4541 1019 12 HARYANA 40064 5990 1293 13 HIMACHAL PRADESH 3175 929 177 14 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 5159 769 296 15 JHARKHAND 14721 2699 1075 16 KARNATAKA 23115 3098 980 17 KERALA 12105 1938 524 19 LADAKH 93 34 17 19 LAKSHADWEEP 0 0 0 20 MADHYA PRADESH 67224 6244 2058 21 MAHARASHTRA 23945 3718 1188 22 MANIPUR 343 71 37 23 MEGHALAYA 231 45 27 24 MIZORAM 27 5 2 25 NAGALAND 256 58 28 26 ODISHA 24290 3267 1329 27 PUDUCHERRY 631 105 33 28 PUNJAB 3101 742 223 29 RAJASTHAN 27814 4314 1410 30 SIKKIM 41 15 8 31 TAMIL NADU 15635 2347 672 32 TELANGANA 37386 4439 1379 33 TRIPURA 1098 200 110 34 UTTAR PRADESH 108317 11563 4656 35 UTTARAKHAND 3395 622 230 36 WEST BENGAL 19922 3433 1321 Total 621962 82077 28141State-wise details of the number of applications received, offers made to candidates and offers accepted by candidates in Round II Applications Total Offers Offers S.

States received Made by Accepted by No.

Companies the Candidates ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR 34 1 ISLANDS 8 4 2 ANDHRA PRADESH 75206 11095 2868 3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 75 19 8 4 ASSAM 7157 2349 1255 5 BIHAR 33125 5698 1607 6 CHANDIGARH 257 65 13 7 CHHATTISGARH 15344 3820 894 8 DELHI 81 1302 451 9 GOA 6260 54 14 10 GUJARAT 252 3005 629 11 HARYANA 12405 1780 601 12 HIMACHAL PRADESH 6943 410 106 13 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 1261 939 329 14 JHARKHAND 5517 1454 624 15 KARNATAKA 4828 2409 751 16 KERALA 12275 1653 660 17 LADAKH 6060 9 3 18 LAKSHADWEEP 57 1 1 19 MADHYA PRADESH 2 9330 2353 20 MAHARASHTRA 50482 5427 1616 21 MANIPUR 27342 32 18 22 MEGHALAYA 117 53 15 23 MIZORAM 157 3 2 24 NAGALAND 6 44 12 25 ODISHA 91 7242 1848 26 PUDUCHERRY 65239 58 11 27 PUNJAB 269 2255 472 28 RAJASTHAN 7738 6213 1342 29 SIKKIM 32288 25 4 30 TAMIL NADU 93 1942 656 31 TELANGANA 9970 4071 1314 THE DADRA AND NAGAR 27201 32 HAVELI AND DAMAN AND DIU 20 7 33 TRIPURA 4536 1091 339 34 UTTAR PRADESH 32105 7085 2761 35 UTTARAKHAND 1541 388 137 36 WEST BENGAL 8953 2347 913 Total 455267 83696 24638Annexure II Annexure II to the Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 2618 to be answered on 09.03.2026.

District-wise details of the number of applications received from West Bengal, offers made to candidates from West Bengal and offers accepted by candidates from West Bengal under Round I.

S. Applications Offers Made by Offers Accepted by No. Districts Received companies candidates 1 Alipurduar 374 34 14 2 Bankura 824 148 59 3 Birbhum 792 109 45 4 Cooch Behar 597 63 29 Dakshin 5 Dinajpur 244 31 10 6 Darjeeling 255 51 18 7 Hooghly 1411 250 91 8 Howrah 958 193 74 9 Jalpaiguri 419 63 18 10 Jhargram 258 51 21 11 Kalimpong 16 2 1 12 Kolkata 1819 332 125 13 Malda 803 112 46 14 Murshidabad 719 119 51 15 Nadia 856 174 62 North 24 16 Paraganas 2368 444 165 Paschim 17 Bardhaman 979 212 86 Paschim 18 Medinipur 1138 194 84 Purba 19 Bardhaman 1116 185 65 Purba 20 Medinipur 1285 246 89 21 Purulia 664 88 27 South 24 22 Paraganas 1607 281 118 Uttar 23 Dinajpur 420 51 23 Grand Total 19922 3433 1321District-wise details of the number of applications received from West Bengal, offers made to candidates from West Bengal and offers accepted by candidates from West Bengal under Round II.

S. Applications Offers Made by Offers Accepted by No. Districts Received companies candidates 1 Alipurduar 90 26 12 2 Bankura 307 98 32 3 Birbhum 235 70 24 4 Cooch Behar 174 57 22 Dakshin 5 Dinajpur 108 38 18 6 Darjeeling 166 47 17 7 Hooghly 710 185 69 8 Howrah 565 149 51 9 Jalpaiguri 166 52 21 10 Jhargram 84 17 6 11 Kalimpong 10 1 1 12 Kolkata 1032 210 90 13 Malda 267 94 37 14 Murshidabad 276 74 29 15 Nadia 414 85 37 North 24 16 Paraganas 1295 291 98 Paschim 17 Bardhaman 509 155 76 Paschim 18 Medinipur 462 109 45 Purba 19 Bardhaman 412 108 44 Purba 20 Medinipur 557 173 70 21 Purulia 265 94 35 South 24 22 Paraganas 649 154 59 Uttar 23 Dinajpur 200 60 20 Grand Total 8953 2347 913 *****