PMIS: Internship offer acceptances fall 12.4% in second pilot round

The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) aims to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in the top 500 companies in five years

Under the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS), the number of candidates accepting offers declined 12.4 per cent in the second round of the pilot programme over the first, according to the data shared by the government in Parliament on Monday.    While on the previous occasion, 34 per cent of the offers made were accepted, it reduced to 29 per cent this time, even though the absolute number of offers went up slightly in the second phase, the data showed.   The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has been taking steps to promote the scheme by collaborating with stakeholders like states and the central government, and industry associations while also conducting workshops, seminars, and promotional campaigns to enhance the visibility of the programme, the written reply by the government said.   The full-fledged launch, which is yet to happen, is expected to take into account the gleanings from the first and second rounds of the pilot programme.   Responding to a parliamentary committee, the ministry had earlier said the long duration of internships, and lack of alignment between candidates’ interests and the roles offered were among the reasons for the low take-up. Besides, there was the request from industrial training institutes and polytechnics to bring down the age for selecting applicants.  The PMIS data showed in the second round companies posted the highest number of internship opportunities in Tamil Nadu -- 15,785 -- but in terms of offers Madhya Pradesh saw the highest response with 9,330.   The second-highest number of offers made by companies was in Odisha with 7,242, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 7,085.   A statement in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “The PM Internship scheme is not designed to provide placements. However, appointment and placement offers are being issued by the companies after assessing candidates’ suitability as per their workforce requirement and company policy.”  The PMIS was announced in the full Budget for 2024-25. It aims to provide internship opportunities to 10 million young people in top 500 companies in five years. As an initiation to this scheme, the ministry launched a pilot project of the scheme on October 3 last year, and the target was giving 125,000 internship opportunities in a year.  In the second round, Jubilant Foodworks rang up the highest number of internship opportunities at 13,658, followed by Power Grid Corporation of India, which gave 7,880 and HDFC Bank 6,800, according to the data provided by Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra in the Lok Sabha.   More than 70 new companies joined the internship programme in round two.