Tweaks on the anvil for PM internship scheme

The government will probably make some amendments to the Prime Minister’s training plan when the third stage is presented. According to the sources, there may be some additional relaxation in age and educational standards for applicants in addition to renewing the current portal of applications to facilitate use.

“There were several rounds of discussions between the government and the private sector and potential employers, as well as applicants to understand how to improve the scheme. Accordingly, the third stage of the plan can see some reviews in its model so that more applicants are encouraged to apply and accept internal training opportunities,” said two people familiar with the development.

They pointed out that the announcement to this end can be issued in the coming weeks.

One of the options considered is relaxation in age and educational qualifications for applicants, as the sources indicated, adding that this would encourage more candidates to apply under the plan. Traveling and moving to a different training site is seen as another problem by many applicants, who face transportation, riding and housing costs.

Nowadays, candidates between the ages of 21 and 24, who have passed at least of the 10 category, can train for 12 months under the scheme.

The PM training system aims to place 10 million filters over a five -year period in the best 500 companies. The list of the best 500 companies depends on the average corporate social responsibility expenses (CSR) in the past three years and voluntary participation. The government will pay them a monthly salary of 4,500 rupees, and the company will pay another 500 rupees for each candidate. The center launches the plan in the experimental stages to understand how it works and reviews it to meet the needs of employers as well as applicants.

The first round of the trial project of the plan was launched on October 3, and more than 127,000 opportunities were provided for internal training. A total of 28,141 applicants were accepted at the time, according to the data with which Parliament participated by the Ministry of Companies Affairs. The sources indicated that about 8,000 to 10,000 applicants have finally joined the training period with challenges to move the costs seen as a major problem.

The second round of the experimental project began in January 2025, and companies have recorded more than 118,000 chances of Cham (both new and modified opportunities in the previous round) across the country, the Minister of State for Companies Affairs Harsh Malhotra recently informed Rajia Sebha. “The application for candidates for the second round of the PMIS Pilot project is continuing,” he said.

The Ministry of Companies Affairs recently extended the deadline for registration under the second phase of the experimental project until March 31.