Internships to bridge job market-skills gap; pilot project takes off

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Last Updated05/10/2024

The Union government on Thursday opened up a portal for India’s top 500 companies to participate in the one-year internship scheme announced in this year’s Union Budget

The Union Government has officially launched the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme in Top Companies, a one-year internship initiative aimed at enhancing the employability of India’s youth.
The scheme, announced in the Union Budget 2024, seeks to bridge the gap between academic qualifications and job market requirements.

Within hours of the launch, 111 companies — including major firms like Mahindra and Mahindra, Max Life Insurance, and Alembic Pharma — signed up, offering 1,077 internships.
The scheme targets around one lakh internships by December 2024, and will eventually expand to train one crore youth over the next five years.

A dedicated portal (pminternship.mca.gov.in) has been launched for this initiative. It will open for candidates in the 21-24 age group starting October 12 and remain active until October 25 for the first batch of applications.
Data Matching: Artificial Intelligence will be used to match candidates’ profiles with the location and requirements of companies, ensuring a smooth and efficient selection process.
Local Internships: Efforts will be made to place interns within their home districts or nearby, reducing relocation challenges.

The scheme is initially funded as a pilot project with an allocation of ₹800 crore. The insights gained from this phase will help fine-tune the scheme before its full-scale rollout. Each intern will receive a monthly stipend of ₹5,000, with the Centre contributing ₹4,500 and companies adding ₹500 from their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds.

High School and Higher Secondary graduates
Holders of ITI certificates, polytechnic diplomas
Graduates with degrees like BA, B.Sc, B.Com, BCA, BBA, B.Pharma
Youth enrolled in online or distance learning courses
Post-graduates, professionals like CAs and doctors, children of government employees, and candidates from households earning above ₹8 lakh annually are not eligible for this scheme. Graduates from elite institutions like IITs, IIMs, and NIDs are also excluded.

The scheme specifically targets the issue of unemployable youth, providing them with on-the-job training to equip them with industry-relevant skills. This is crucial in bridging the gap between educational qualifications and employer requirements in sectors where real-world experience is essential for employability.

The scheme includes reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and persons with disabilities (PwDs) in line with government policies.

Each participating company will appoint a nodal officer for handling grievances. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will oversee the overall grievance redressal process. Additionally, companies are encouraged to nominate their vendors and suppliers to participate, ensuring a wider scope for involvement in the scheme.