The initiative, which aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry, has gained momentum following enthusiastic participation from both students and companies during its recent rollout.
Industry associations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have voiced strong support for the programme. According to sources, there is now “a lot more readiness” among industry stakeholders to absorb interns under the scheme.
Launched as part of the Union Budget 2024–25, the PM Internship Scheme aims to provide one crore internships over a five-year period, beginning with a pilot targeting 1.25 lakh internships in FY25. The scheme is designed to offer structured, paid internship opportunities to unemployed youth aged 21–24 who are not currently enrolled in full-time education or employment.
Each intern is eligible for a ₹5,000 monthly stipend — with ₹4,500 contributed by the government and ₹500 by participating companies from their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds. An additional one-time grant of ₹6,000 is provided for incidental expenses, and interns are covered under central insurance schemes.
The government had initially allocated ₹2,000 crore for the scheme in FY25, but only ₹48.41 crore had been disbursed as of mid-February. The allocation has been sharply increased to ₹10,831 crore for FY26, with a target of 15 lakh internships for the year.
