PM Internship Scheme 2026: Eligibility, Stipend, Apply

PapersAdda is an independent guide site, not affiliated with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the Government of India, or any partner company in this scheme. Everything below comes from the official PMIS portal, the ministry's press releases, and named news reporting, checked on the date shown.

What the PM Internship Scheme Is

The scheme's guidelines, published by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (PMIS Cell), state: "The Prime Minister's Internship Scheme in Top Companies has been announced in the Budget 2024-25 (Scheme). It aims to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in top 500 companies in five years." In practice, it is a Direct Benefit Transfer scheme run through pminternship.mca.gov.in, where partner companies post openings and the portal handles registration, shortlisting, and payouts. On 28 September 2026 the portal's guidelines page still showed this 2024 memorandum; the 2026 changes below come from press releases and a Rajya Sabha reply.

The guidelines are explicit that an internship offer creates no "contractual or legal relationship of employer-employee" and is no promise of future employment. Treat it as paid, structured work exposure, not a guaranteed route to a job offer.

Who Can Apply: Eligibility and Exclusions

The scheme's age and education rules changed in 2026, so the current picture mixes the original 2024 guidelines with two later changes.

The 2024 guidelines list these groups as ineligible. Since that is the only full list PapersAdda found on the portal on 28 September 2026, use the portal's eligibility check before assuming any of them still applies to you:

• Graduates of IITs, IIMs, National Law Universities, IISER, or NIDs.
• Those holding a CA, CMA, CS, MBBS, BDS, or MBA qualification, or any master's or higher degree (Business Standard reports master's-degree holders became eligible in March 2026; MBA holders should confirm on the portal).
• Anyone currently undergoing, or who has already completed, another skill, apprenticeship, internship, or student training programme under a Central or State government scheme.
• Candidates whose family income exceeded Rs 8 lakh in FY 2023-24. The guidelines define "family" as the candidate, their parents, and their spouse.
• Candidates with a family member who is a permanent or regular government employee (this excludes contractual employees).

If you are marked a dropout from an earlier PMIS internship, you are barred from applying again for one year, which is covered later in this guide.

Stipend, the One-Time Grant, and Other Benefits

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs' 22 April 2026 press release states: "Interns will receive minimum financial assistance of ₹9,000 per month." The portal's own "why PMIS" section, checked on 28 September 2026, shows the same figure plus a second payment: "₹ 9000/month financial assistance" and "₹ 6000 one-time incidental support." The guidelines pay the government's share and the one-time grant by Direct Benefit Transfer to the intern's Aadhaar-seeded bank account.

This is a genuine increase. The original 2024 design, still on the portal's guidelines page, set monthly assistance at Rs 5,000 (Rs 500 from company CSR funds, Rs 4,500 from government). A Business Standard report on a Rajya Sabha reply from minister of state Harsh Malhotra states the guidelines "have been revised with effect from March 12," and that the government "increased the monthly allowance for interns from ₹5,000 to ₹9,000." Companies can pay more: the portal lists "Additional company benefits" as a third item, and its featured postings on 28 September 2026 showed monthly financial assistance from Rs 9,000 up to Rs 19,000, depending on the company.

Beyond the two payments:

• Insurance. The guidelines commit to insurance coverage for every intern "under insurance schemes of the Government of India, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, for which premium amount shall be provided by Government." Companies may add further accidental insurance of their own.
• Completion certificate. The portal advertises a "Verified Completion Certificate" described as "Digital, tamper-proof, and shareable," and states it is "Issued jointly by MCA & the Company you intern with."

How Long an Internship Lasts

The original pilot rule, still on the portal's guidelines page, says "Duration of the Internship shall be 12 months," at least half of it in a real work environment rather than a classroom. A Business Standard report on the March 2026 revision describes "relaxing the duration of the programme to six-nine months from the earlier one year," and reports that one concern flagged for low acceptance and joining was that "the 12-month period was considered longer than the normal skilling programmes." Check the duration stated on your specific posting rather than assume one figure fits every opening.

The Current Round, Checked 28 September 2026

The ministry's 22 April 2026 press release states: "More than 300 companies have participated in the pilot phase of PMIS to offer internship opportunities across roles and sectors. Currently, the third round of the pilot phase is underway wherein companies are posting internship opportunities on an ongoing basis." Business Standard's report says the scheme "has adopted a rolling internship cycle allowing continuous posting, selection and onboarding."

When PapersAdda checked the live portal on 28 September 2026, it still said "The pilot phase of the scheme is currently underway." Its dashboard listed 275,746 internship opportunities across 34 sectors, 36 states and union territories, and 741 districts, spanning six qualification categories, with the note "Companies are posting opportunities on an ongoing basis." Featured postings that day came from organisations including Power Grid Corporation of India, Endurance Technologies, Jupiter Wagons, and the Bihar State Milk Co-operative Federation (COMFED).

On 14 August 2026, the ministry's PMIS Industry Awards named Mahindra & Mahindra the Overall Industry Champion, with ONGC, NTPC and Western Coalfields as the top PSU partners and Reliance Industries, Infosys and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories as the top private partners, according to the PIB release on the event.

For context, the Business Standard report, citing the minister's Parliament reply, gives figures for the earlier rounds:

A PIB release marking Round 2's launch (20 February 2025) put Round 1 at more than 6 lakh applications, and Round 2 at more than 1 lakh internship opportunities across more than 730 districts, offered by more than 300 top companies. The portal's 741-district count is a later snapshot.

How to Apply, and How Selection Works

1. Register. Go to pminternship.mca.gov.in and complete Aadhaar-based e-KYC: "Candidates must first be registered on the Portal through Aadhaar authentication or eKYC."
2. Build your profile. Add your education and certifications; "a Resume will be generated by the Portal for the candidate."
3. Apply. Browse postings by sector, role, state, and district. The original guidelines allowed applying to "up to five (5) internship opportunities," though the ministry's Round 2 launch notice (20 February 2025) capped this at "up to 3 internships until the application deadline;" confirm the current limit on your own dashboard.
4. Get shortlisted. For each opening, "approximately twice/thrice as many names, along with the Resume of the candidates, will be sent to the company for selection," weighted toward "criteria that prioritize lower employability and ensure broader representation across the applicant base," including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, and persons with disabilities.
5. Accept an offer. Companies select from the shortlist and send offers through the portal; "A candidate may receive up to two (2) internship offers in one cycle." Accepting generates an Internship Document setting out both sides' roles and responsibilities.
6. Join and get paid. When you join, the company confirms it on the portal, which per the guidelines triggers the one-time Rs 6,000 grant. Under the original design, the government's monthly share followed each month after the company paid its own share and reported it on the portal.

Documents You Will Need

• Your Aadhaar number, for e-KYC and for an Aadhaar-seeded bank account, since the government's payments move by Direct Benefit Transfer.
• Proof of your educational qualifications and any certifications, which the guidelines say "would have to be uploaded by the candidates."
• A self-declaration, submitted on the portal, "affirming that all eligibility requirements specified in these guidelines are met and that none of the ineligibility criteria apply."
• If you are a final-year student, a No Objection Certificate from your institution, signed by your Head of Department, Dean, Principal, or Training and Placement Officer, confirming the internship will not interfere with academic requirements.

Why Applications Get Rejected or Candidates Aren't Selected

PapersAdda found no official, published list of rejection reasons. What follows is drawn directly from the guidelines' own rules on eligibility, documents, and conduct:

• Not meeting the eligibility rules, on age, education, family income, or one of the named exclusions above.
• Incomplete documents. The guidelines require uploaded proof of qualifications and a self-declaration that you meet every eligibility rule.
• A missing or invalid No Objection Certificate, for a final-year applicant without one from an authorised institutional signatory.
• Simple competition. Roughly two to three times as many candidates are shortlisted as there are openings, so most shortlisted candidates for any one posting are not selected.
• Being marked a dropout from an earlier PMIS internship. The guidelines treat an intern who stops attending without notice and does not respond or rejoin after two attempts at contact, or who says they want to stop, as a dropout, and disqualify them "from applying for any internship for one year under this Scheme."

Fake Offers: How to Stay Safe

PMIS pays the government's share straight to your Aadhaar-seeded bank account by Direct Benefit Transfer, and PapersAdda found no fee anywhere in the scheme's guidelines or on its portal. Treat any demand for a registration fee, a shortlisting fee, a "confirmation fee," or payment for faster processing as fraud.

Practical checks:

• Use only pminternship.mca.gov.in, not a link sent over WhatsApp, SMS, or email.
• Your application status, shortlist result, and any offer appear on your own portal dashboard after login, not through an unsolicited message.
• Never share your Aadhaar OTP, bank PIN, or portal password with anyone, including someone claiming to represent PMIS or a partner company.
• If a message feels off, verify it using the scheme's own contacts below, not a number given in that message.
• Report anything suspicious at cybercrime.gov.in, and separately to PMIS support.

Official PMIS contacts, per the portal: [email protected], [email protected], and toll-free 1800 11 6090.

WHAT PAPERSADDA THINKS

The headline numbers are real: a government-run internship with a Rs 9,000 monthly minimum, insurance cover and a jointly issued certificate is not a small thing for this age group, and rolling postings beat waiting for one annual window.

Where we would push back is the paperwork trail: with the guidelines page still showing the 2024 memorandum, read the duration and stipend on each posting rather than assume one number fits all. And the portal still called PMIS a pilot on 28 September 2026, although the pilot was launched for financial year 2024-25, while by Business Standard's count Rounds I and II together saw more than 16,000 interns join, against a stated aim of one crore youth in five years. Take the paid opportunity, but treat the scheme as a pilot still finding its shape.

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