PM Internship pilot project launched, 1.25 lakh to benefit

The Centre on Thursday launched a pilot project for the ambitious PM Internship scheme which seeks to recruit one crore eligible youth to train in India’s top 500 companies over five years.

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As many as 111 companies (top 500 firms based on CSR spends over the last three years are eligible under the scheme) have come on board with a promise to place 1,077 offers to train interns mainly across agriculture and allied; automobile and pharma sectors. Among firms that have agreed to join the scheme are L&T, Max Life and Mahindra and Mahindra, with several PSUs also on board. Top government sources said the portal for the pilot, to be maintained by a government agency, is already operational for companies to make entries with respect to the nature of offers.

These entries will be made till October 10, after which candidates can start registering from October 12 until October 25. By October 26, the Centre, using AI, will send a short list of candidates to companies, matching their skills with the offers made and the companies will then select their interns between October 27 and November 7.

As per the timeline of the pilot, candidates will need to accept the offer made between November 8 and 15 and actual internship will commence from December 2. December 2 will be the date when the Centre will pay one-time Rs 6,000 to the intern along with its share of Rs 4,500 a month, with the company to pay a matching share of Rs 500 a month.

“The money will be paid directly to the intern over the period of 12 months from December 2. Companies will also be free to allow vendors to hire interns who they can choose to recruit at the end of the 12-month training,” government sources said.

The pilot will be implemented through the online portal developed by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and accessible at www.pminternship.mca.gov.in. Sources said enquiries can be made on a multilingual tele helpline, reachable at 1800-116-090, which has been set up to provide assistance and facilitation to the stakeholders.

“Over 44 % callers so far have been graduates; 13% postgraduates, 11% 11th pass and 3% 12 pass. Of the callers so far, 900 studied at ITIs, 59 are diploma holders and 17 are B Pharma graduates,” sources said. A candidate who has passed high school, or higher secondary school, or possess a certificate from an ITI, or holds a diploma from a polytechnic Institute, or is a graduates with degrees such as BA, BSc, BCom, BCA, BBA, BPharma, etc., is eligible for the scheme. Graduates from IITs, IIMs, NLUs, IISER, NIDs and IIITs are ineligible. Those having qualifications such as CA, CMA, CS, MBBS, BDS, MBA, any masters or higher degree can also not apply for an internship.