PM Internship Scheme: House Committee seeks swift action

New Delhi: A Parliamentary Standing Committee has asked the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) to act "swiftly and decisively" to tackle challenges being faced in the PM Internship Scheme with only 8,725 candidates joining out of 28,000 who accepted offers.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, in its report tabled in Lok Sabha Wednesday, also flagged the reduced allocation for the scheme to ₹380 crore from the earlier ₹2,000 crore, out of which just ₹21.10 crore had been spent as on mid-February 2025. The panel observed longer duration of internships, under utilisation of funds; imbalanced gender ratio of male to female interns and lack of alignment between candidates' interests and the roles offered as the main reason for the tepid response. The committee, while acknowledging the ministry's efforts in driving the scheme forward, urged the Centre to actively involve states for the success of the scheme.