New Delhi, July 29 In the second round of the PM Internship Scheme pilot project, which commenced on January 9 this year, about 327 top companies have posted over 1.18 lakh internship opportunities across 735 districts of the country, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
Over 4.55 lakh applications were received from over 2.14 lakh applicants in this round. As on July 23, 2025, partner companies have made over 72,000 offers to the youth, and over 22,800 offers have been accepted, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
Currently, rolling out of offers and the process of acceptances and joining by interns is in progress, he said.
Youths 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/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 the promotion and implementation of the scheme. The Ministry is also carrying out Information, education and communication activities to reach out to the target groups across the country, the minister explained.
Malhotra said that the top 500 companies for the pilot project have been identified by the Ministry on the basis of their average CSR expenditure of the last three years. Apart from these, any other company, bank or financial institution desirous of participating in the scheme may do so with the approval of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which would take a view keeping in view under represented sectors. The partner companies include private sector companies and Central and state public sector enterprises.
The pilot project is implemented through an online portal, which serves as a centralised platform for end-to-end scheme and internship lifecycle management. A dedicated dashboard is provided to each partner company on the portal for posting Internship opportunities.
Eligible candidates then have to register themselves on the portal and apply for internship opportunities based on their preferences, including location (state, district), sector, functional role, and qualifications. A pool of candidates, based on the applications, is shortlisted for each internship opportunity through the portal and sent to the companies. Companies select candidates and make internship offers based on their respective selection criteria and processes.
Under the PMIS Pilot Project, the company is expected to provide the person with an actual working experience in a skill in which the company is directly involved. At least half of the internship period would be in the actual real-life business environment. Thus, the scheme provides an opportunity to the youth to get training and gain experience and skills within the work environment of various businesses or organisations with the intention of enhancing their employability by bridging the gap between academic learning and industry requirements.
As per the guidelines of the pilot project, the companies would follow their own mechanism for assessing the candidates on a periodic basis. Quarterly Assessment Report of the candidates would be uploaded by the company on the portal, the minister added.
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