Over 1.53 lakh offers made by big firms to youth under PM Internship Scheme: FM Sitharaman

New Delhi, July 21 (IANS) Over 1.53 lakh offers have been made by the top companies in the country to youth during the first two rounds of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) that was launched in October 2024, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.

The minister said in a written reply that in round one of the PM Internship Scheme Pilot Project, the partner companies posted more than 1.27 lakh internship opportunities on the PMIS Portal across the country.

Against this, more than 6.21 lakh applications were received from about 1.81 lakh candidates. Partner companies made over 82,000 internship offers to over 60,000 candidates, out of which more than 28,000 candidates accepted offers to join the internship, and over 8,700 candidates joined their internship.

She further stated that in round two of the PM Internship Scheme Pilot Project, which commenced on January 9, 2025, about 327 partner companies have posted over 1.18 lakh internship opportunities (new and edited unfilled opportunities of previous round) across 735 districts of the country.

Over 4.55 lakh applications were received from over 2.14 lakh applicants, in this round. As on July 17, 2025, partner companies have made over 71,000 offers to youth and over 22,500 offers have been accepted.

"Currently, rolling out of offers and the process of acceptances/ joining by interns is in progress," Sitharaman added.

The PM internship scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2024-25. It aims to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in top 500 companies in five years.

As an initiation to this scheme, Ministry of Corporate Affairs launched a Pilot Project of the scheme on October 3, 2024, which is targeted to provide 1.25 lakh internship opportunities to the youth in one year.

Youth between the age group of 21-24 years, who have passed High School, Higher Secondary School, possess a certificate from an ITI, hold a diploma from a Polytechnic Institute, or are graduates with degrees such as BA, B.Sc, B.Com, BCA, BBA, B. Pharma, etc. and are not employed full-time and not engaged in full-time education are eligible to apply.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is actively working with various stakeholders such as state governments, industry associations, educational institutions etc. for promotion and implementation of the scheme, Sitharaman said.

The ministry is also carrying out information, education and communication activities to reach out to the target groups across the country, she added.

--IANS

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