New Delhi: The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) has seen 10,195 candidates physically join its third pilot round so far, surpassing the number of joinings recorded in both the first and second pilot rounds, the Centre informed Parliament on Monday.
The third pilot round, which began in April and will continue till December, has already recorded more internship joinings than the first (8,760) and second (7,300) pilot rounds.
The data were shared by Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra in a written reply to questions in the Lok Sabha by MPs Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu and G. Lakshminarayana of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Tangella Uday Srinivas of Janasena, and K. Sudhakar of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
According to the ministry, 340 companies have offered 1.22 lakh internship opportunities across 31 sectors in the third pilot round as of 15 July 2026.
State-wise data showed Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest number of candidates that joined internships with 2,038, followed by Maharashtra with 771 and Assam with 699.
The improvement comes after the government overhauled the scheme in March ahead of the launch of the third pilot round. The monthly stipend was increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,000, the eligible age group was expanded from 21-24 years to 18-25 years, and the internship duration was reduced from 12 months to 6-9 months.
The government also widened the eligibility criteria to include final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students.
“This has been done with a view to expand the outreach of the Scheme and to enable a larger number of eligible youth to benefit from exposure to a real-life business environment through internship opportunities,” Malhotra said in his written reply.
The scheme has also been expanded beyond India’s largest companies to include micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), global capability centres (GCCs), and professional bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
The changes come after the scheme generated a poor response since its launch in October 2024, with low participation and high attrition. Across the first two pilot rounds, only 16,060 candidates physically joined the internship programme despite lakhs of opportunities being offered.
On the steps taken to promote the scheme, Malhotra said, “PM Internship Scheme is being implemented as a national level scheme and 35 States/UTs have appointed Nodal Officers for PMIS.”
“With active support from the State, awareness campaigns are being carried out at ITI, Diploma, degree, and graduate colleges across the country, including tier 2 and tier 3 cities, rural and semi-urban districts,” he added.
Also Read: Amid poor response to PM Internship Scheme, Centre plans to widen pool of opportunities
MY Bharat collaboration
In a separate Lok Sabha question about PMIS and MY Bharat (Mera Yuva Bharat), Malhotra in a written reply underlined the role of MY Bharat in promoting the internship scheme.
“PMIS has collaborated with MY Bharat to increase youth participation in internship opportunities posted under PMIS, across the country,” he said. “MY Bharat leverages its extensive youth network and digital engagement platform to create awareness about PMIS and encourage the youth to apply for internships offered by partner companies.”
MY Bharat, which functions under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, promotes youth development through civic engagement.
Nearly 98,000 youth, according to the government, have been mobilised through the collaboration of PMIS and MY Bharat, out of which 8,428 applied for internships on the PMIS portal as of 16 July 2026.
The ministry said PMIS and MY Bharat have organised three outreach and internship camps in Chennai, Pune and Dantewada. These camps enabled direct interaction between candidates and companies, helping young applicants understand available roles, industry expectations and complete application formalities.
ThePrint had reported earlier this month on the collaboration between PMIS and MY Bharat.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Govt’s internship scheme missed targets. But for some it was an entry point into corporate India