The Corporate Affairs Ministry has stipulated that intern aspirants looking to avail benefits of recently launched PM Internship Scheme need to possess Aadhar number or undergo Aadhaar authentication. Aadhaar number is a must as implementation of the scheme involves recurring expenditure incurred from the Consolidation of India and the payouts will happen through Direct Benefit Transfer, sources close to the development said.
A one-time assistance of ₹6,000 along with a monthly allowance of ₹5,000 (₹4,500 from government and ₹500 from Corporate CSR fund) will be given to the youth participating in the internships. Those youth who do not have Aadhaar number will be asked to make application for Aadhaar enrolment if they are desirous of availing benefits under PM Internship Scheme, sources said.
Till the time an Aadhaar number is assigned to them, the benefit under the scheme will be extended to such individuals on production of an “Aadhar enrolment identification slip” and any of the official documents such as PAN Card, Passport, ration card, voter identity card, public sector bank passbook with photograph, driving licence or certificate of disability, they said.
Numbers surge
Meanwhile, the number of internship opportunities posted in the dedicated portal for the PM Internship Scheme surged as of Wednesday to nearly 50,000, a three-fold jump from the 16,000 level seen two days back, sources in MCA said.
The portal — managed by the Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG) — was opened on October 3 for companies to post the internship opportunities. So far, internship opportunities have been posted by more than 130 companies including Jubilant Foodworks, Eicher Motor Ltd, Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra &Mahindra Ltd, Bajaj Finance, Muthoot Finance etc.
Internship opportunities are spread across the length and breadth of the country, and having been made available in 650 districts, spread over 36 States and Union Territories, sources said. These internship opportunities are spread across 22 sectors. The greatest shares are available in the oil, gas and energy sectors, followed closely by travel and hospitality.
Other sources in which internship opportunities are available include automotives, banking and financial services, infrastructure and construction, manufacturing and industrial, aviation and defence etc, sources said. Internships are available in over 20 fields including operations management, production and manufacturing, maintenance, sales and marketing etc, they added.
The Prime Minister Internship Scheme was launched on a pilot basis last Thursday. The government has set aside ₹800 crore for the pilot scheme, which aims to provide 1,25,000 internships to youth aged between 21 and 24 in FY25.
The Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) is administering the PM Internship Scheme, which was announced in this year’s budget as part of government efforts to give a push to job creation and skilling among youth.
The internship offers under the PMIS will be given by India’s top 500 companies ranked by average CSR spend in last three financial years. Corporates can between October 3-12 submit available positions on the internship portal. From October 12 to October 25, candidates can apply on the portal. Candidates’ shortlist will be prepared on October 26 using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Companies will between October 27 and November 7 review and select candidates. The candidates can then between November 8 and 15 accept or reject the internship offers.