New Delhi: The Modi government has widened the pool of organisations eligible to participate in the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) in an effort to boost participation, following low acceptance and high attrition in the first two rounds of the flagship programme.
The scheme will extend beyond the country’s largest corporations and include micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), global capability centres (GCCs), as well as professional bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and the Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICMAI).
The new framework, which came into effect in April 2026 with the launch of Pilot Round 3, will also include statutory organisations, such as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), under the flagship programme.
“Currently, discussions are ongoing with different industrial bodies. We plan to start internship opportunities in these additional companies at the earliest,” a government source told ThePrint on condition of anonymity.
The guidelines also allow state governments to nominate companies to participate in the scheme. “State governments can nominate up to 20 companies,” the source added.
Launched in October 2024, PMIS is designed to make the youth job-ready through hands-on experience in top companies. It aims to provide one crore internship opportunities over five years, to improve youth employability through industry exposure.
However, the scheme has struggled to convert internship offers into actual placements.
The expansion of eligible companies is part of a broader effort by the government to address the shortcomings that emerged in the first two rounds.
According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), one of the biggest reasons for poor acceptance was that many candidates were unwilling to relocate or travel beyond 5-10 km for internships. The ministry also attributed the low joining rate and high attrition to the earlier 12-month internship duration, which was longer than most skilling programmes.
By bringing MSMEs into the programme, the government hopes to create more internship opportunities closer to candidates’ hometowns, addressing one of the scheme’s biggest challenges, location constraints.
According to the source, discussions are underway with MSME clusters across industrial towns to develop a framework for offering internships closer to where candidates live.
“The objective is to increase participation from candidates and increase the pool of companies,” the source said.
The pilot round has been extended till December 2026, with a target of providing 1.10 lakh internship opportunities.
The Centre is also partnering with the National Cadet Corps (NCC) and MY Bharat (Mera Yuva Bharat) to expand grassroots awareness of the scheme and improve enrolment among young candidates. ThePrint reported this early this month.
The latest changes follow the government’s earlier overhaul of several features of the scheme under Pilot Round 3. The monthly stipend was increased to Rs 9,000 from Rs 5,000, the eligible age group expanded to 18-25 years from 21-24 years, and the internship duration reduced to 6-9 months from 12 months.
The MCA, which administers the scheme, has also expanded the number of eligible companies from around 500 in the first two pilot rounds to 2,000 from Pilot Round 3 onwards, based on their average corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure over the previous three financial years.
Apart from CSR criteria, the companies must also meet at least one additional financial metric: an annual turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore or a net worth exceeding Rs 500 crore in the preceding financial year.
Also Read: PM Internship Scheme taps NCC, MY Bharat to improve outreach after weak response in initial rounds
Revamp after weak response
Data shared by MCA in Parliament in March shows the scheme has struggled to convert offers into internships.
In the first round, companies made over 82,000 internship offers to more than 60,000 candidates, but only 8,760 joined. The second round fared similarly, with over 83,000 offers made to more than 71,000 candidates, while only around 7,300 candidates took up the internships.
The latest expansion marks the government’s attempt to revitalise the scheme, with the focus shifting from increasing the number of internship opportunities to also making them more accessible and attractive for young candidates.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
Also Read: ICAI to onboard 25 CA firms under PM Internship Scheme, targets 2,000 interns by year-end