Union Budget 2025 | PM internship scheme scope may be widened

New Delhi: The Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme, which was unveiled in the July 2024 Union Budget as part of the Rs 2 lakh crore package for jobs and skilling, is likely to be modified in the upcoming Budget to widen the scope of participation of more candidates and companies, informed sources told DH.

At present, top 500 companies, on the basis of their average Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure in the last three years, as per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), are eligible for the scheme.  

According to a highly placed source, the companies’ eligibility criteria for the participation in the scheme are likely to be tweaked. The focus would be to ensure participation of a higher number of companies in the scheme.

The eligibility criteria of students is also likely to be modified. At present, candidates who have graduated from institutions like IITs, IIMs, National Law Universities, National Institute of Design (NIDs), or Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) are not eligible for the scheme.

Children or spouses of any government employees are also not eligible. The age criterion is 21-24 years and no member in the family should be earning more than Rs 8 lakh per annum. Some of these criteria might be tweaked to ensure wider participation of candidates.

The scheme is currently in pilot stage and the MCA has launched a portal for registration. It gives the companies an option to post internship opportunities and also has features for candidates’ registration. The scheme was slated to be launched in December but has been deferred.

Moreover, CSR expenditure does not give an accurate idea of the financial depth and workforce of a company. For example, e-commerce companies and some tech companies do not have any CSR obligation due to losses shown on their balance sheets but are among the biggest employers.  

When asked about the participation in the PM internship scheme (PMIS), a senior Amazon executive told DH, “it does not apply to us.” Amazon India employs around 1 lakh people directly. But the company has shown losses and thus is not required to spend on CSR. Similarly, Flipkart, which has a valuation of around $60 billion, is yet to achieve profitability and thus not required to have CSR spend.

Modification in the scheme may be announced in the Union Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on February 1 or at the time of actual rollout of the scheme.

“Extending PMIS participation beyond the top 500 corporates to include all CSR-compliant entities under the Companies Act would exponentially increase internship opportunities," said Sumit Kumar, Chief Strategy Officer, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship.

As per the Companies Act, 2013, companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more, a turnover of Rs 1000 crore or more, or a net profit of Rs 5 crore or more are mandatorily required to  allocate at least 2% of their average net profits from the preceding three financial years towards CSR activities.