The Central Government will launch another phase of the pilot scheme for the Prime Minister’s (PM) Internship Scheme in about a month.
The move likely came about due to the low acceptance rates of the offers made under the scheme. In the first phase, only about 8,700 candidates accepted their offers out of the 28,000 who received them. In the second phase, 72,000 were given offers by July 23, 2025, but only 22,800 were accepted, though the number may rise to somewhere between 28,000 and 29,000.
Official data also reveals that despite the large number of applications, only 6% of candidates who gave their acceptance actually joined their internships.
In order to boost the numbers, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has urged state governments to hold career counselling and awareness camps across their jurisdictions. MCA has also asked executives of participating companies to encourage candidates to take advantage of the government scheme.
Furthermore, MCA has launched workshops, seminars and promotional campaigns, both online and offline, to further the candidate interest. Sensitisation campaigns at various industrial training and technical educational institutions are also being undertaken to bolster the scheme.