A mismatch between internship opportunities and participation, and a significant gender imbalance in the first pilot round of the PM Internship Scheme earlier this year forced the government to tweak the norms of this flagship scheme. These steps taken to improve participation, including the disclosure of information about the company name, its profile and geographical location, seems to have catalysed a very tangible outcome — a sharp increase in the share of female applicants in total applicants to 41 per cent in the second round, up from 31 per cent seen in the first round.
The gender imbalance with the ratio of male to female interns of 72:28 was one of the key concerns flagged by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance to the government, as per a report of the Committee tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday. “While appreciating the Ministry (of Corporate Affairs) for taking all efforts to achieve the ambitious target of the scheme; the Committee urges the Ministry to act swiftly and decisively to overcome/address the key challenges faced during pilot phase viz. mismatch between the number of internship opportunities offered and actual participation; longer duration of internships; under-utilisation of funds; imbalanced gender ratio of male to female interns stands at 72:28; lack of alignment between candidates’ interests and the roles offered,” the report stated.
The government had responded by saying that the numbers picked up after the first pilot. “With reference to the observed gender imbalance among interns selected under the Scheme, it is submitted that in the Round I of the Pilot Project, 31 per cent of applicants were female candidates. The representation of females amongst the interns stands at 28 percent which is almost consistent with the representation of females at the application stage,” it said in response to the Committee.
Low acceptance rate of the offers made under the Internship Scheme has been a key concern. Prospective applicants have also flagged some of the issues under the Scheme with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs earlier including a request to relax the age limit from 24 years to 25 years, employment prospects after internship and few openings in the IT sector in the ‘Candidate Open House for the PM Internship Scheme’ in March.
The government told the Committee that due to the changes undertaken in the Scheme and IEC (information, education and communication) activities, there has been an increase in participation of female candidates in Round II. “In Round II, female candidates constitute more than 41 per cent of the applicants. The selection/ joining process for Round II is ongoing,” it said.
Applicants under PM Internship Scheme
The first pilot round of the Scheme had witnessed a huge gap in the number of applicants and candidates accepting the offers for the internships. According to data shared by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in Parliament last week, as on July 17, over 71,000 offers were made by companies in Round II, out of which over 22,500 offers have been accepted and the selection process is still ongoing. Over 4.55 lakh applications were received from over 2.14 lakh applicants in the second round.
In Round I, companies posted more than 1.27 lakh internship opportunities on the PMIS Portal across the country. Against this, over 6.21 lakh applications were received from about 1.81 lakh candidates. Over 82,000 internship offers were made to over 60,000 candidates, out of which more than 28,000 candidates accepted offers to join the internship. However, only 8,700 candidates joined the internship.
Gender-wise breakup shows that while the share of females among interns improved to 41 per cent at the application stage in the second round from 31 per cent in the first round, the share of females among interns stood at 28 per cent in the first round but the corresponding figure for the interns was not available for the second round.
Other issues in the PM Internship Scheme
Under-utilisation of funds for the PM Internship Scheme was also flagged as one of the key issues by the Standing Committee in a separate report tabled in the Lok Sabha last week. In the financial year 2024-25, the budget estimate of Rs 2,000 crore got reduced to Rs 380 crore in revised estimate and actual spending as of mid-February stood at Rs 21.10 crore. The allocation was then hiked sharply to Rs 10,831.07 crore for the financial year 2025-26.
There is a need for a dynamic reassessment of funding for the scheme, the Committee said. “These funds suffice for the pilot phase, but dynamic reassessment of financial needs is crucial for scaling up. While these features are commendable, challenges persist regarding inclusivity, monitoring, stakeholder participation, and postinternship outcomes, impacting overall budget efficiency,” the report stated.
The Committee had also noted that there is a need for the host companies to align training programs with industry skill requirements to ensure interns are industry-ready. It had recommended periodic independent evaluations for transparency and suggested relaxing eligibility norms for marginalised and economically weaker candidates. “While the scheme is in its pilot phase, the Committee emphasises that the internship-to-employment conversion rate should be a key success indicator. The Committee, therefore, recommends establishing a robust system to monitor and track this metric, ensuring the programme effectively creates career opportunities and aligns with industry demands,” it said.
Another issue flagged by the Committee was regarding the Scheme’s eligibility criteria to exclude candidates if any of their family members earns over Rs 8 lakh or is a regular government employee. The committee said that the blanket exclusion of regular government employee families is unwarranted, as many earn below Rs 8 lakh and may need support under the scheme.
The Ministry in its response said it is carrying out concurrent evaluation of the Scheme through a feedback survey, after which it incorporated some of the changes in the second round. To address the issue of low joining, the Ministry decided to provide the exact geotagged location of the internship to the candidates along with the company’s name and profile. Additional benefits or assistance offered by the company were also made visible to the candidates. Dashboards were also provided to the state governments for active monitoring and to encourage youth participation in the scheme, it said.
The Internship Scheme was a part of the Prime Minister’s Package for Employment and Skilling announced in FY25 Budget with an overall outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore. The Scheme aims to provide internships to one crore youth in top 500 companies over five years. Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 4,500 is provided per month by the Government of India through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) with an additional Rs 500 offset provided by the company’s CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds. The government also provides a one-time grant of Rs 6,000 per annum for incidentals to cover miscellaneous expenses incurred by the selected intern.
Low acceptance rate of the offers made under the Internship Scheme has been a key concern. (Credit: Pexels) 
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