Declared in Budget 2024-25, PMIS aims to provide one crore internships in five years, which begins with a pilot project targeting 1.25 lakh internships in FY 2024-25.
However, the report stated that despite the companies offering more than 1.27 lakh internships in the first phase, only 28,000 candidates have accepted offers, and only 8,700 intern have joined.
The second phase launched in January 2025 has added 1.15 lakh new and revised internship listing, but data on participation is not clear.
The report indicates important implementation challenges.
Response from evaluation agencies-IIM-Bangalore, Delhi School of Economics, and Symbiosis Institute of Business Management are discouraged from internship locations, which are far from their homes, and expanded 12-maundies of the program, and expansion of the program.
Additionally, concerns have been raised about the lack of transparency in internship details, which led to a change in the second round, such as displaying the name of the company, geotaging places and improving the user interface of the PM internship portal.
Eligibility criteria have also investigated.
While the scheme targets youth between the age of 21-24, who are not in full-time education or employment, graduates from IITs, IIMS, national law universities and other major institutions are excluded with postgraduate or professional degrees like CA, CS, CMA, MBA, MBBS, and BDS. Some experts argue that these restrictions may limit the talent pool and affect the overall impact of the plan.
Industry participation has also decreased by expectations.
While the government had targeted to include top 500 companies based on its corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure, only 318 companies had joined the second phase of the scheme. Leading recruitments include Jubilant Foodworks, Maruti Suzuki, ONGC, Reliance Industries and Eicher Motors, but the overall corporate engagement is below the target.
The financial structure of the scheme includes ₹ 5,000 monthly stipend per intern, which has been paid by the government ₹ 4,500 and the CH500 has contributed by companies from its CSR funds. Additionally, to cover casual expenses, a one -time grant of 6,000 is provided, and the princes are insured under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana. However, companies have expressed concern over the financial burden of training costs, which should be completely covered by CSR budget.
The report stated that despite an allocation of ₹ 2,000 crore in FY24-25, only ₹ 48.41 crore was already paid with ₹ 21.10 crore till mid-February 2025, and the remaining distribution was already paid. This raises the question about whether the program can increase effectively according to the plan, given that the budget for FY25-26 has been increased by more than five times ₹ 10,831 crore with the target of 1.5 million internships for the year.
In response to the implementation barriers, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has introduced several changes, including increased monitoring dashboard for state governments, voice notes for better access and awareness campaign through state-level information and education initiatives. However, joining with many candidates is still hesitant, this plan has to face pressure to improve its execution before expanding further.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has urged the government to address these intervals, to ensure better industry participation and to streamline fund disbursement to maximize the impact of the initiative. Already with important financial commitments, PMI’s success will depend on how effective these challenges are resolved in the coming months.
Suzuki (T) ONGC (T) Reliance Industries (T) Eicher Motors (T) Government Internship Skeep
