What Happened
- The Prime Minister's Internship Scheme (PMIS), which received a massive ₹10,831 crore allocation in Union Budget 2025-26 (up from ₹380 crore in 2024-25), has utilised less than 1% of this budget.
- The scheme has seen poor uptake from both participating companies and eligible applicants since its pilot launch in October 2024.
- The shortfall highlights structural challenges in the scheme's design: companies appear reluctant to onboard interns at scale, and youth applicants face practical barriers including awareness gaps and the modest ₹5,000/month stipend structure.
- The scheme targets 1 crore internships over five years in India's top 500 companies.
Static Topic Bridges
Prime Minister's Internship Scheme — Architecture and Features
The Prime Minister's Internship Scheme was announced in the Union Budget 2024-25 (presented July 23, 2024) and launched on October 3, 2024, with a pilot phase targeting 1.25 lakh internships. The nodal ministry is the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The scheme uses an AI-powered portal (pminternship.mca.gov.in) to match candidates with companies by skills and location. The scheme aims to provide 1 crore internships over five years across India's top 500 companies.
- Announced: Union Budget 2024-25 (July 23, 2024)
- Launched: October 3, 2024 (pilot phase)
- Nodal ministry: Ministry of Corporate Affairs
- Duration: Internships of 12 months
- Stipend structure: ₹5,000/month total — ₹4,500 from government via DBT, ₹500 from company's CSR funds
- One-time joining grant: ₹6,000 via DBT
- Portal: pminternship.mca.gov.in (AI-based candidate-company matching)
- Pilot target: 1.25 lakh internships; 5-year target: 1 crore internships in top 500 companies
Connection to this news: The scheme's structural design — companies contributing only ₹500/month from CSR funds — creates a low-cost entry for corporates but also low accountability. The <1% budget utilisation reflects the gap between a well-funded scheme and its implementation architecture.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Framework — Section 135 of Companies Act, 2013
A key design feature of PMIS is that companies fund ₹500/month per intern from their mandatory CSR budgets. CSR spending under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 is mandatory for companies meeting prescribed thresholds (net worth ≥ ₹500 crore, or turnover ₹1,000 crore, or net profit ₹5 crore or more). Companies must spend at least 2% of their average net profit of the preceding three financial years on CSR activities. The use of CSR for internship stipends is a novel linkage.
- Governed by: Section 135, Companies Act, 2013
- Applicability threshold: net worth ≥ ₹500 crore OR turnover ≥ ₹1,000 crore OR net profit ≥ ₹5 crore
- Mandatory CSR spend: 2% of average net profit of preceding 3 years
- Schedule VII of Companies Act lists eligible CSR activities; skill development and employment enhancement are included
- Internship scheme uses CSR funding as the corporate contribution — creates accountability through annual CSR reporting
Connection to this news: If top 500 companies fail to deploy CSR funds for PMIS at scale, the scheme loses its cost-sharing mechanism. The <1% utilisation suggests CSR channelling to PMIS is far below what was assumed in budget projections.
Skill Gap and Youth Employment in India — The Structural Challenge
India's demographic dividend — with over 65% of the population below 35 years — is projected to add ~10 million workers to the labour force annually. However, surveys (NSSO PLFS, CII skill reports) consistently show that a large share of graduates lack industry-ready skills. The PMIS targets this skill-employability gap by embedding youth in real corporate environments for 12 months. However, the scheme operates in the same space as earlier initiatives (NAPS — National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme, 2016; Skill India Mission, 2015) with overlapping objectives and different nodal ministries.
- India's working-age population (15–64 years): ~1 billion; annual addition to labour force: ~10 million
- Youth unemployment (PLFS 2023-24, urban 15-29 age group): approximately 17-18% [Unverified — exact figure varies by PLFS round]
- National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS): launched 2016, Ministry of Skill Development; government reimburses 25% of stipend (capped at ₹1,500/month)
- Skill India Mission: launched 2015; umbrella for PMKVY, NAPS, Jan Shikshan Sansthan etc.
- PMIS vs. NAPS: PMIS is 12-month corporate internships with higher stipend; NAPS is apprenticeships across industry sectors including MSMEs
Connection to this news: The underperformance of PMIS raises the question of whether adding another parallel scheme — with massive budget but low execution — is the right policy design when existing apprenticeship infrastructure (NAPS) remains underutilised.
Budget Allocation and Utilisation — Fiscal Accountability Concepts
The jump in PMIS allocation from ₹380 crore (2024-25) to ₹10,831 crore (2025-26) — a 28-fold increase — without commensurate ground-level readiness is a textbook case of aspirational budgeting vs. absorptive capacity. Parliamentary scrutiny of such underutilisation happens through the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The CAG audits both efficiency (was the expenditure made?) and effectiveness (did it achieve its goals?).
- Public Accounts Committee (PAC): examines CAG reports, scrutinises unspent allocations and excess expenditure
- CAG: constitutional body under Article 148; audits all Union and State government expenditure
- Demand for Grants: the mechanism by which Parliament approves expenditure; revised estimates capture mid-year course corrections
- Surrender of funds: unspent allocations must be surrendered to the Consolidated Fund of India before March 31
- Low utilisation of voted grants may trigger re-examination of scheme design in subsequent budget cycles
Connection to this news: With less than 1% utilisation, the ₹10,831 crore allocation is overwhelmingly likely to be surrendered at year-end, raising PAC/CAG scrutiny about whether the allocation was realistic and whether the scheme needs fundamental redesign.
Key Facts & Data
- Scheme: Prime Minister's Internship Scheme (PMIS)
- Announced: Union Budget 2024-25 (July 23, 2024)
- Launch: October 3, 2024 (pilot)
- Nodal ministry: Ministry of Corporate Affairs
- Budget 2024-25 allocation: ₹2,000 crore; Budget 2025-26 allocation: ₹10,831 crore
- Utilisation (as of March 2026): less than 1% of ₹10,831 crore
- Stipend: ₹5,000/month (₹4,500 govt DBT + ₹500 company CSR); ₹6,000 one-time joining grant
- 5-year target: 1 crore internships in top 500 companies
- Pilot target: 1.25 lakh internships
- Portal: pminternship.mca.gov.in (AI-powered matching)
- CSR linkage: Section 135, Companies Act, 2013