New Delhi, March 17 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday launched a dedicated mobile app for the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme.
Commending the Prime Minister’s vision in introducing a package of five schemes to promote employment, skilling and opportunities, the minister emphasised that the scheme has the potential to bridge the gap between classroom learning and industry expectations, thereby enhancing youth employability.
She further urged the industry to actively participate in the scheme, highlighting that their involvement would contribute to nation-building while fostering a skilled workforce in the country.
The app offers intuitive interface with a clean design and effortless navigation; easy registration through Aadhaar face authentication; effortless navigation; personalised dashboard; access to a dedicated support team’ and real time alerts to keep candidates abreast of new updates.
With the application, the users can also explore the referral program recently announced by Ministry of Corporate Affair (MCA).
The referral programme would enable the registered youth to refer other eligible candidates for the scheme and win rewards. The registered youth on the PM Internship portal (web browser) can also participate in this referral programme.
The Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme, announced in the Budget 2024-25, aims to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in top 500 companies in five years.
As an initiation to this scheme, the Pilot Project targeted at providing 1.25 lakh internship opportunities to the youth was launched for the financial year 2024-25.
The scheme provides an opportunity to the youth to get training, and gain experience and skills within the real-life environment (at least six months) of the businesses or organisations that help in bridging the gap between academic learning and industry requirements, in turn, assisting enhancement of her/his employability.
Each intern will be supported with monthly financial assistance of Rs 5,000, supplemented by one-time financial assistance of Rs 6,000.
In the round I of the pilot project (October–December 2024), over 1.27 lakh opportunities in about 745 districts were posted by around 280 companies across 25 sectors. Over 82,000 offers were made to the candidates.
The round II of the Pilot Project commenced in January 2025 and about 327 companies have posted more than 1.18 lakh opportunities (both new and edited unfilled opportunities of the previous round) across the country.
The internship application window for round II is open till March 31.
—IANS
na/
