New Delhi: The second round of Modi government’s flagship Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) has seen more firms come in, but there has been a decline in both the job offers made by companies and the acceptance rate among candidates, compared to round one, shows data provided Monday by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to the Lok Sabha.
PMIS was launched last October to equip the country’s young population living in tier 2 and tier 3 cities with the necessary skills needed for future employment. The scheme entails giving year-long on-the-job training to aspirants with a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000 to be shared by companies (Rs 500 via CSR fund) and the government (Rs 4,500). Apart from a stipend, the government will pay a one-time grant of Rs 6,000 to candidates.
The government has fixed a target of providing internships to 1 crore young Indians for the next five years.
So far, in round two, launched in January this year, 1.18 lakh internship opportunities were opened by 327 companies across 735 districts. Of this, eventually only 71,458 offers were made—a drop of 13 percent compared to round one when 82,077 roles were on offer.
However, till 17 July, just 22,584 of the 71,458 offers were accepted by the candidates, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Monday in a written reply to a question by BJP MPs Shobhanaben Baraiya and Vijay Kumar Dubey in Lok Sabha.
This acceptance rate by candidates is also low compared to round one when a total of 28,000 candidates had accepted the offer. At 327, the number of companies who have onboarded the scheme in round two has, however, gone up from 280 in round one.
The government is yet to release the figures of the total number of candidates who have actually joined the companies in round two.
A senior official from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which is piloting the scheme, told ThePrint that the process (of candidates joining) is still underway.
In round one, PMIS was expected to provide 1.25 lakh internships but only 8,725 candidates physically joined till March 2025—7 percent of total internship offers. Though candidates showed high initial interest but the response tapered off. There was low acceptance of offers and high attrition, with a section of candidates complaining of low-quality work.
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Number of applicants dipped in round two
Data given by Sitharaman also shows that the number of applicants too dipped in round two, compared to round one. Over 4.55 lakh applications were received from 2.14 lakh candidates in round two as against 6.21 lakh applications received during round one.
Government sources said this could be due to the changes made to the rules based on the learnings from round one. While in round one, a candidate was allowed to fill five applications, in round two, a candidate can fill only up to three applications.
Overall, since the scheme was launched last October, the total number of candidates registered on the PMIS portal stood at 6.84 lakh after two rounds.
In May, ThePrint had reported about how low turnout and high attrition in round one had left the scheme stuttering. More than 82,000 internship offers were made in round one with 28,000 candidates accepting, but eventually only 8,725 joined.
A senior government official had told ThePrint then that based on feedback from candidates and companies, they found structural issues with the scheme were behind the lukewarm response. These included location constraints for candidates, lack of transparency, low quality work and role mismatch.
To ensure better response in round two, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs made alterations to the scheme, like allowing candidates to view company names, any additional benefits that are being offered by companies and exact internship location using GIS technology.
Also, information, outreach was organised across districts to create awareness about the scheme.
How states are faring
PMIS data released by the government in Lok Sabha Monday shows Uttar Pradesh was ahead of all states in terms of number of internships offer (11,563) and acceptance (4,656) in round one.
But in round two, it is Andhra Pradesh, which is leading the pack in terms of number of internships offer (8,911) followed by Madhya Pradesh (7,822). UP is at the third spot with 6,259 offers, a decline of 46 percent from round one.
An analysis done by ThePrint shows that internship offers have declined across 23 states and UTs in round two.
However, there is a silver lining. The eight northeastern states are seeing higher acceptance rates among candidates. States like Assam (61.9 percent), Mizoram (66.7 percent) and even strife-torn Manipur (56.3 percent) had an acceptance rate of more than 50 percent in round two.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Why flagship PM Internship Scheme is off to a stuttering start with low turnout, high attrition