**Executive Summary**
This document summarizes the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' response to questions regarding the utilization of funds and the effectiveness of the Prime Minister's Internship Scheme (PMIS), answered on February 9th, 2026. It details the allocation and expenditure of funds for the scheme, reasons for low acceptance rates, and measures taken to improve the scheme's implementation and outcomes. A pilot project was initiated in FY 2024-25 and is still ongoing, as of January 27, 2026, 3417 interns from Round I have completed the internship.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Financial Allocation and Utilization:**
* Rs. 10831.07 crore was initially allocated for the PM Internship Scheme in FY 2025-26, later revised to Rs. 526 crore.
* A pilot project was approved with a budget of Rs. 840 crore in FY 2024-25.
* Rs. 64.91 crore has been utilized for the pilot project as of December 31, 2025.
* **Internship Offers and Acceptance:**
* In Round I of the pilot project, partner companies made over 82,000 internship offers to over 60,000 candidates, with approximately 28,000 candidates accepting offers.
* Reasons for low acceptance/joining include location preference (5-10 km ideal distance), internship duration (12 months longer than normal skilling programs), and lack of interest in roles offered.
* **Scheme Objectives and Design:**
* The PM Internship Scheme aims to enhance industry-relevant skills, improve job readiness, and foster professional exposure through structured internships.
* The scheme is not designed to provide placements.
* **Internship Duration and Completion:**
* The internship duration under the Pilot Project is 12 months.
* Completion dates for Round I internships are from November 2025 to March 2026, and for Round II, from April 2026 onwards, depending on the joining date.
* As of January 27, 2026, 3417 interns from Round I have completed the internship.
* **Improvement Measures:**
* Portal Improvement: Added functionality for geo-tagging, moving vacancies/candidates, and increased visibility for company benefits.
* Targeted Information, Education and Communications (IEC) activities.
* Active engagement and coordination with States, UTs, Ministries, Departments, and Industry Associations for enhanced outreach.
* Active engagement with industry to ensure meaningful internship experiences, including quarterly progress reporting.
**Impact Analysis**
**Partner Companies**
* **Impact:** Companies are required to provide meaningful internship experiences and report quarterly progress on interns. They will need to adhere to the new geo-tagging requirements and provide clear information on benefits to attract candidates.
* **Action Required:** Implement geo-tagging, enhance benefit visibility, ensure meaningful experiences, and provide quarterly progress reports.
**Interns/Candidates**
* **Impact:** Interns may benefit from improved location services and increased visibility of additional benefits offered by companies. The scheme is designed to improve their skills and employability.
* **Action Required:** Consider improved location services and clearly visible additional company benefits when applying for internships.
**Government (Central and State), UTs, Ministries, Departments, Industry Associations**
* **Impact:** These entities are critical to the scheme's outreach and coordination efforts. They need to actively engage to improve the program's accessibility and effectiveness.
* **Action Required:** Engage in active coordination to enhance the outreach of the scheme.
Key Entities Referenced
Prime Minister's Internship Scheme (PMIS): A scheme focused on providing internships, designed to enhance skills and foster professional exposure, particularly in India's top companies and institutions.
Ministry of Corporate Affairs: The ministry responsible for administering the Prime Minister's Internship Scheme, overseeing its implementation, and evaluating its impact.
Pilot Project (PM Internship Scheme): A preliminary phase of the PM Internship Scheme, designed for testing concepts and strategies before full-scale implementation.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1568
ANSWERED ON MONDAY THE 9TH FEBRUARY, 2026
MAGHA 20, 1947 (SAKA)
UTILISATION OF FUNDS UNDER PRIME MINISTER’S INTERNSHIP SCHEME
QUESTION
1568. Shri K C Venugopal:
Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state:
(a) the reasons for the poor utilisation of funds under the Prime Minister’s
Internship Scheme (PMIS), wherein only about 4% of the allocated budget was
spent during April-November period of the Financial Year 2025-26;
(b) whether it is a fact that only about 28,000 were accepted despite over 82,000
internship offers being made in the first round, resulting in a low acceptance rate
of around 34%; if so, the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the level of financial assistance provided to interns is a deterrent to
participation and if so, whether the Government proposes to revise the stipend
structure, if so, the details thereof;
(d) the number of interns who have completed internships under PMIS so far and
the outcomes in terms of skill development and employability; and
(e) the corrective measures being taken to improve participation, utilisation of
funds and overall effectiveness of the PMIS?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE OF THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS AND MINISTRY
OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
[SHRI HARSH MALHOTRA]
(a): For the FY 2025-26, an amount of Rs. 10831.07 crore was allocated to Ministry
of Corporate Affairs for PM Internship Scheme at Budget Estimate stage and the
same was revised to Rs. 526 crore. As an initiation to PM Internship Scheme, a
Pilot Project was approved with the budget of Rs. 840 crore in the FY 2024-25.
During FY 2025-26, as on 31.12.2025, Rs. 64.91 crore has been utilized towards
the pilot project of the PM Internship Scheme.
(b) & (c): In the Round I of the PM Internship Scheme Pilot Project, Partner
companies made over 82,000 internship offers to over 60,000 candidates and out
of which over 28000 candidates accepted offers. 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 associationsand 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.
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.
(d): The PM Internship Scheme is designed to enhance industry-relevant skills,
improve job readiness, and foster professional exposure through structured
internships in India’s top-performing companies and institutions to create job-
ready, skilled workforce. The scheme is not designed to provide placements.
The duration of internship offered under the Pilot Project being of 12 months, the
completion dates of internship under Round I are from November 2025 to March
2026 and under Round II are from April 2026 onwards, depending on the date of
joining of the interns. As on 27.01.2026, 3417 interns from Round I have
completed the internship.
(e): Based on the learning during the implementation of the Prime Minister
Internship Pilot Project, following major steps were taken to improve the
implementation and outcomes:
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.
****