Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government will launch an internship scheme to create job opportunities for one crore youth in the top 500 companies over the next five years.

Sitharaman proposed an internship allowance of ₹5,000 per month. Companies facilitating the internship would meet 10 per cent of the training cost from Corporate Social Responsibility funds.

The rules in Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 mandates companies with a certain turnover and profitability to spend 2 per cent of their average net profit of the past three years on CSR activities.

Sitharaman in her Budget 2024-25 speech proposed the creation of 4.1 crore jobs for youth over the next five years, for which that government has allocated ₹2 lakh crore.

Similarly, , she proposed spend of ₹1.48 lakh crore to skill 20 lakh youth for jobs over a five-year period.

As many as 1,000 industrial training institutes will be upgraded, she announced. She proposed providing a one-time wage to all first-time employees in all sectors. The incentive for first-timers would be provided through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

Sitharaman said employment, skilling, MSME, and middle class are among the key focus areas of this Budget.