Enhanced PM Internship Program: Candidates to Receive Comprehensive Offer Details

The internship locations will be provided with geo-tagged coordinates, offering applicants clearer insights into travel requirements within the district and assisting them in making quicker decisions, as stated by one of the sources.

Names of the respective companies will also be made available to applicants.

These updates are part of the second phase of a pilot project currently in progress. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has set a deadline until the end of March for candidates to register on the designated portal, create a profile, and apply for opportunities across various sectors. Following this, the portal will align opportunities with candidate profiles and forward shortlisted applications to companies for selection and internship offers.

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The government is also urging companies to provide internships in smaller towns and villages wherever feasible, rather than focusing solely on urban areas. The ministry is conducting workshops nationwide to ensure the scheme reaches more eligible candidates and to improve its uptake, according to the source.

For instance, officials from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs implementing the scheme in the western region have held outreach events in cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nagpur, Chandrapur, Nashik, and Kolhapur to engage with the youth in Maharashtra.

“Significant emphasis is being placed on education, information dissemination, and raising awareness about the scheme,” remarked a second anonymous source. Outreach sessions have also taken place as part of employment fairs organized by the Maharashtra government, the source added.

In the initial phase of the pilot project launched in October 2024, over 127,000 internship positions were made available by companies. In the second phase, which commenced in January 2025, companies have listed more than 118,000 opportunities, including some positions that remained unfilled from the previous round, as informed by Harsh Malhotra, the Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, during a parliamentary session on Monday.

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“The suggested changes to the PM Internship Scheme, particularly the introduction of geo-tagged locations, are expected to enhance transparency and clarity, aligning with applicant aspirations, enabling informed decisions, and promoting internship participation,” stated Sumit Kumar, Chief Strategy Officer at TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship, a service provider facilitating apprenticeships in collaboration with universities, companies, and government.

Skill Development

Kumar noted that promoting internships in smaller towns and rural areas is a positive move toward equitable skill development and addressing the urban-rural disparity in workforce growth.

“To further enhance youth employability, we propose integrating internships with undergraduate programs under the National Education Policy (NEP), ensuring that 50% of the credits are skill-oriented,” highlighted Kumar.

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Introducing third-party agents (TPAs) could facilitate corporate involvement, as demonstrated in the National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM) and the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS), Kumar mentioned, referring to the two government initiatives aimed at skill development and improving employability through apprenticeship training.

By expanding the PM internship scheme beyond the top 500 firms that contribute to CSR, broader industry participation can be stimulated, leading to large-scale skill development, Kumar added. He also emphasized that hosting nationwide workshops would further promote awareness and acceptance of the scheme.

The PM Internship scheme aims to provide internship opportunities to 10 million individuals over a five-year period.