Offers for govt's internship scheme surpass target, placements by December 2

Openings offered by companies for intake under the PM Internship Scheme for young job-seekers have easily exceeded the government’s target for the year.

Openings offered by companies for intake under the PM Internship Scheme for young job-seekers, at around 125,000, have easily exceeded the government’s target for the year and applicants will be assigned to their jobs beginning December 2, two officials said.

In her budget 2024-25 speech on July 3, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced job-creation and education plans worth ₹1.48 lakh crore, which included a paid programme for internships to 10 million eligible youth with 500 top firms in the next five years. (Reuters)

In her budget 2024-25 speech on July 3, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced job-creation and education plans worth ₹1.48 lakh crore, which included a paid programme for internships to 10 million eligible youth with 500 top firms in the next five years.

Total openings for apprenticeship listed by private-sector firms stand at slightly over a targeted 125,000, one of the officials said. The government has processed about 60,000 applications so far. Job-seekers can apply on a government portal for the year-long internships till October 25.

“The internship scheme will give our youth a unique opportunity to work in world-class companies. They will be exposed to corporate best practices and be able to imbibe their work culture, which will help them to find employment opportunities in downstream industries,” labour and employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya said last month.

The government will vet applications and match skills and suitability to available openings using a software based on generative artificial intelligence or AI, a second official said.

Under the scheme, interns will be paid ₹5,000 a month for a year, aside from a one-time grant of ₹6,000. The government will pay ₹4,500 while ₹500 will be paid by the company from its corporate social responsibility funds.

The number of companies which have joined the initiative has reached a targeted 500, including large firms such as Maruti Suzuki India, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Jubilant Foodworks, Tech Mahindra and Hero Motocorp.

Applicants, with a minimum qualification of 10th grade, who don’t have a full-time job and are aged between 21-24 years are eligible for selection. Individuals who are postgraduates, students from esteemed institutions such as IIT, NIT, and IIM, as well as graduates in MBA, CS, CA, and MBBS are not eligible for this internship.

By a wide reckoning, India isn’t creating enough good-quality jobs for its rising workforce.

According to the government’s Economic Survey 2024, India needs to create 7.85 million non-farm jobs every year until 2030 to absorb its expanding labour force, way higher than the current rate of employment.

Figures released last month by the statistics ministry showed India’s annual unemployment rate stayed flat at 3.2% for the July 2023-June 2024 period compared to the previous year.

“Apart from many other things, the uptake of these schemes will depend on matching skills with positions available in firms. A lot of unemployment among educated youths in our country is also because their educational qualification is not a match for jobs on offer,” said Ishwar Aravind, an economist with Delhi University.