New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme (PMIS), one of the flagship programmes of the Narendra Modi-led government to make the Indian youth job-ready through practical, hands-on experience at top companies, is heading for a makeover.
This move comes nearly a year after the launch of the scheme, which aims to bridge the gap between academics and industry practices, due to a “tepid response from candidates” in the first two rounds of the pilot phase of the PM’s internship scheme, government sources told ThePrint.
The overhaul, they said, will include incorporating a flexible duration of the internships as well as an upward revision of the stipend for the interns, with the government preparing for a full-scale launch of the PMIS later this year.
Once the necessary changes are in place, the final policy document will likely be sent to the Modi cabinet, later this year, ThePrint has learnt.
Launched in October last year, the pilot phase of the PM’s internship scheme set the tenure of the internships at 12 months. The interns received a one-time, central grant of Rs 6,000, as well as a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000, including Rs 4,500 from the government and Rs 500 from the respective companies, essentially from their Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR funds.
Under the PM’s internship scheme, Indians between 21 and 24 years can apply online via the dedicated PMIS portal or the official PMIS mobile application to gain experience in industries or real-world corporate environments. Such exposure, along with their academic learning, increases their employability.
Tepid response to pilot rounds
Round 1 of the pilot phase of the programme saw a lukewarm response. Launched in October 2024, it saw only 280 companies offering 82,000 internships to students, and only 28,000 candidates accepted opportunities with the firms. Ultimately, only 8,725 candidates joined their companies for the internships.
“Based on the feedback received during the pilot phase from the end of the candidates and the industry players, some key changes would be made in the scheme in the final policy document, in terms of the stipend and the internship tenure,” a senior government official, who did not want to be named, told ThePrint.
Launched in January 2025, Round 2 of the pilot again prompted a subdued response, despite new features, including higher transparency on internship locations, job descriptions, and the disclosure of additional benefits the companies would offer. The final figures for Round 2 are not yet out, as the roll-out of offers by companies, as well as the joining of candidates, continues.
According to the latest data provided by the government in Parliament in August 2025, 327 companies have, till now, issued nearly 82,000 offers. The candidates have so far accepted only 24,000 offers.
The pilot phase of the PMIS was to test concepts and strategies before the full-scale implementation of the scheme, the senior government official quoted earlier said.
“Once the full-scale scheme rolls out with necessary changes, the response from the candidates will be far better than in the pilot phase,” the official added.
An industry source closely associated with the scheme told ThePrint that government officials had been taking steps to address the issues with the scheme by taking regular feedback from candidates and company officials over the last year.
“Based on the feedback, there is a possibility of the internship duration being kept flexible between six months and 12 months, while the stipend amount could be revised upwards,” the industry source told ThePrint. However, at the current juncture, it is not yet clear whether the stipend hike will be in the central share or that provided by the company.
Interns seek high-quality work
In its earlier report, ThePrint highlighted the low quality of work, such as data entry and filing, among other monotonous tasks, that companies offer to interns. The same results in a high rate of attrition, with candidates leaving to pursue higher studies or better-quality work.
According to government sources, they considered the regular feedback on work quality from the interns across companies during Round 2. A mechanism would be in place in the final policy draft to ensure the quality of work under the scheme remained high for all interns in all companies, they added.
ThePrint earlier reached the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) officials in April as the company made the maximum internship offers—for any public sector company—at 6,020, during the round 1 of the pilot but was witnessing attrition.
At the time, the ONGC officials told ThePrint that of the 539 candidates who joined the company for internships in Round 1, 443 had remained with ONGC by April 2025, while the remaining 96 had left, without completing their full tenure. According to the latest data ThePrint has obtained from ONGC, nearly 430 candidates from Round 1 were continuing as part of the internship scheme, as of September this year.
ONGC officials said the attrition rate dropped after they transferred candidates to production sites for firsthand, practical experiences, which they considered higher-quality work. Another factor that retained candidates was the additional benefits, over and above the stipend, that ONGC started offering, such as Rs 5,000 for food and Rs 5,000 for rent expenses of outstation candidates, the officials said.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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