CHANDIGARH: The Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme (PMIS) has witnessed significant participation from youths with 82,077 internship offers extended to 60,866 candidates across the states and union territories within first five months of the launch of the scheme.
Launched as a pilot project on October 3 last year the PMIS aims to create internship opportunities for one crore youth in five years by partnering with India’s top 500 companies.
According to official data by the ministry of Corporate Affairs as many as 28,141 candidates accepted these offers from various partner companies. Country’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh received the highest number of internship offers at 11,563, highlighting the large youth population in the state, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 6,244 offers and Maharashtra with 3,718 offers also saw strong participation, reveals a written reply by the union minister of state for corporate affairs Harsh Malhotra, to Rajya Sabha
Similarly, the figures revealed that Tamil Nadu and Karnataka received 2,347 and 3,098 offers, respectively, reflecting South India’s active engagement with the scheme. The national capital of Delhi received 2,698 offers, while Punjab and Haryana together accounted for 6,732 internship offers, with one in three candidates from these states accepting the offers. The benefit of the scheme even reached to the remote locations of the country as the youths living in smaller regions such as Ladakh got 34 offers, Mizoram 5 offers, and youths in Sikkim got 15 offers.
As per the data a total 3.38 lakh candidates across the country had completed their profiles on the PMIS portal for the first round for accessing internship opportunities as Uttar Pradesh leads with 64,630 completed profiles. Whereas, Andhra Pradesh followed with 29,364 completed profiles, while Bihar saw 22707 candidates completing their registrations. Also several other states with significant participation include Madhya Pradesh (32,286 profiles), Maharashtra (14,783), Karnataka (12,081), and Delhi (12,447).
The PMIS, announced in the Union Budget 2024-25, offers internships with a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000 for 12 months and a one-time grant of Rs 6,000 for incidental expenses. The scheme
As per the ministry the candidates can access internship offers through the PMIS digital portal. So far, the top 500 companies, identified based on their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending, have participated. Additional companies can also join with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ approval. The first phase of the pilot project ran from October 3 to November 15, 2024.