The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) organised the PMIS Industry Awards 2026 on 14 August 2026 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi to felicitate partner companies of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS). Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd was named the Overall Industry Champion for its leading role in offering quality internships and youth engagement. The ceremony, held as part of Independence Day celebrations, also honoured HDFC Bank, Shriram Finance Ltd, IBM India Pvt Ltd and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (POWERGRID) for excellence across different stages of the internship journey.
What Is the Prime Minister Internship Scheme?
The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) is a central government initiative to improve youth employability by giving young Indians practical exposure inside leading companies. It was announced in Budget 2024-25 as part of the Prime Minister’s package of five schemes for employment, skilling and opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over five years. The scheme is administered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs through the dedicated portal pminternship.mca.gov.in, with support from BISAG-N as the technology partner.
Under the scheme, the government aims to create one crore internship opportunities in five years in India’s top companies. For the Pilot Project, launched on 3 October 2024, the target was 1.25 lakh internships in FY 2024-25 with an outlay of about ₹800 crore. The pilot, first planned for 12 months per internship, was rolled out in two rounds and was later extended till December 2026 with a revised target of 1.10 lakh opportunities after learnings from early implementation.
An internship under PMIS is not a job. It is an arrangement where a company trains an intern in a real business environment for 6 to 9 months, with at least 50 percent of the time in actual workplace experience rather than classroom training. For existing pilot interns the duration remains 12 months. Interns are not treated as employees, as clarified by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Eligibility has been widened after the early rounds saw modest uptake. Youth aged 18 to 25 years, who are Indian nationals and not in full-time employment or full-time education, can apply, though final year students in full-time graduation or post-graduation and learners in online or distance mode are now allowed with a no-objection certificate. Candidates must have completed at least Class 10, and those with High School, Higher Secondary, ITI certificate, polytechnic diploma, graduation degrees such as BA, BSc, BCom, BCA, BBA, BPharma, BE and BTech, or post graduation are eligible. Graduates from IITs, IIMs, National Law Universities, IISER, NIDs, IIITs and IISc, and holders of professional qualifications such as CA, CMA, CS, MBBS, BDS, MBA, MPhil and PhD are not eligible, along with those already covered under NATS or NAPS apprenticeship schemes. The family income ceiling and the bar on members with a permanent government job remain.
Financial support is provided through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). Each intern receives ₹9,000 per month, of which ₹900 is paid by the company from CSR or own funds and ₹8,100 by the government to the intern’s Aadhaar seeded bank account, pro-rated for attendance. In the first two pilot rounds the stipend was ₹5,000 with a company share of ₹500. In addition, a one-time incidental grant of ₹6,000 is paid in two instalments of ₹3,000 each, and interns are covered under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana with the premium paid by the government. Training costs are met by the company from its CSR funds.
Companies participate voluntarily. Initially the top 500 companies by average CSR expenditure of the last three years were invited, but under revised guidelines from 12 March 2026 the net was widened to the top 2,000 CSR spenders, firms with annual turnover above ₹1,000 crore or net worth above ₹500 crore, companies from under-represented sectors, plus professional institutions, selected MSMEs through sectoral associations, Global Capability Centres and Special Economic Zones with MCA approval. The portal allots interns to opportunities after screening preferences, and applies reservation for SC, ST, OBC and Persons with Disabilities as applicable to central government. Companies then make final selection and issue offers through the portal.
PMIS Industry Awards 2026: Ceremony and Winners
The PMIS Industry Awards, branded as Recognition of Partner Company Awards, were held on 14 August 2026 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The event was organised to mark India’s 80th Independence Day and to acknowledge industry partners who powered the pilot phase of PMIS. The ceremony was chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and attended by Additional Secretary Anshuman Pattnaik, Joint Secretary D Balamurugan, other senior officials, representatives of partner companies and more than 100 current and former PMIS interns from across the country. Interns were also invited to participate in the national Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi.
The awards recognised organisations for creating quality internship opportunities, nurturing talent, managing the internship lifecycle well and helping the government build a future-ready workforce. Selection was based on performance across the pre-internship, internship and post-internship stages, including joining ratios, onboarding quality, training delivery, innovation and support for employment pathways.
Overall and Special Category Awards
The five headline honours highlighted different strengths in the internship value chain.
| Award Category | Winner | What It Recognises |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Industry Champion | Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd | Leadership across all parameters in promoting internships and youth engagement under PMIS |
| Pre-Internship Excellence Award | HDFC Bank Ltd | Best performance on pre-internship indicators such as vacancy posting, offer to joining ratio and induction and onboarding practices |
| Internship Management Excellence Award | Shriram Finance Ltd | Effective day to day management of interns and creation of meaningful work experience |
| Innovation in Program Implementation Award | IBM India Pvt Ltd | Creative and scalable methods in delivering training, mentoring and industry relevant skilling |
| Innovation in Exit Pathways Award | Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (POWERGRID) | Innovative steps to help interns move from internship to employment |
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, headquartered in Mumbai and founded in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed, is one of India’s largest automotive and farm equipment makers and a consistent high CSR spender. Its recognition as Overall Industry Champion reflects large scale participation and consistent engagement across rounds.
HDFC Bank Ltd, incorporated in August 1994 and headquartered in Mumbai, is India’s largest private sector bank by assets and market capitalisation. It commenced operations in January 1995 after receiving a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India. The bank was cited for strong pre-internship work, including clear vacancy detailing, quick offer processing, high joining ratios and structured induction that helps young professionals feel prepared from day one.
Shriram Finance Ltd, incorporated on 30 June 1979 and registered in Chennai with its corporate office in Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, is a leading Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC). It was recognised for managing the internship period well, with sustained mentoring and hands on assignments.
IBM India Pvt Ltd, the Indian subsidiary of International Business Machines Corporation, re-entered India in 1992 and is headquartered in Bengaluru, Karnataka. With about one lakh employees in India, it contributes core technology and consulting support to many Indian firms and was noted for using fresh perspectives of interns to strengthen innovation and for adopting new methods to make the programme more effective.
POWERGRID, a Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Power, was incorporated on 23 October 1989 and is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. It transmits about 50 percent of the power generated in India. Till December 2025 it offered 6,265 internship opportunities across both pilot rounds on a pan-India basis. For exit pathways, it worked with the Power Sector Skill Council (PSSC) to upload details of trained PMIS interns on the Rozgaar portal and informed agencies in the power transmission sector about available talent. The effort also covers apprentices trained under the Apprenticeship Act, 1961 and candidates skilled in power transmission line tower erection and stringing.
Top PSU and Private Partners and Sectoral Champions
Beyond the five headline awards, MCA also honoured top performers by ownership and by sector.
| Category | Winners |
|---|---|
| Top PSU Partners | Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC), NTPC Ltd, Western Coalfields Ltd |
| Top Private Partners | Reliance Industries Ltd, Infosys Ltd, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd |
Sectoral champions, recognised for the highest impact within their industries, included:
| Sector | Sectoral Champion |
|---|---|
| Metals and Mining | Central Coalfields Ltd |
| Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) | ITC Ltd |
| Agriculture and Allied | DCM Shriram Ltd |
| Healthcare | Dr. Lal PathLabs Ltd |
| Pharmaceuticals | Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Emcure Pharmaceuticals Ltd |
| Banking and Financial Services | National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) |
| Oil, Gas and Energy | ONGC and Oil India Ltd |
| IT and Software Development | Tech Mahindra Ltd |
| Infrastructure and Construction | Larsen and Toubro Ltd |
| Automotive | Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd |
| Diversified Conglomerates | Reliance Industries Ltd |
| Retail and Consumer Durables | Tata Consumer Products Ltd |
Oil India Ltd, a Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, was specifically felicitated as Sectoral Champion for Oil, Gas and Energy. Its HR-Learning team received the award at the same ceremony.
Why Recognising Industry Partners Matters
India has a young population, but many graduates lack direct workplace exposure that employers value. The government’s idea behind PMIS is to bridge the gap between classroom learning and industry needs by placing youth inside the country’s top companies for real work. The scheme’s success therefore depends less on government funding alone and more on how seriously companies design, deliver and close the internship.
That is why the awards focus on different stages. Pre-internship excellence matters because many candidates in the first two pilot rounds accepted offers but did not join, often due to location distance of 5 to 10 km being the preferred travel limit, long duration and uncertainty about what comes after. Companies that list vacancies clearly with geo-tagged locations, explain stipend and facilities, respond quickly and run a welcoming induction improve joining ratios.
Internship management is the core learning period. With at least half the tenure required to be actual job work, the quality of mentoring, project allocation and feedback decides whether an intern gains usable skills. Innovation in implementation rewards firms that go beyond routine training, for example by linking interns to live projects, digital learning and cross functional exposure.
Exit pathways address the most frequent concern, that an internship does not guarantee a job. POWERGRID’s model shows a practical route. By pushing trained intern profiles to the Rozgaar portal of PSSC and alerting sector employers, the company creates a visible talent pool for the power transmission ecosystem. Similar sector skill councils exist for other industries, so the approach can be replicated in banking, IT, FMCG, pharma and construction. For the government, such pathways help justify the ₹66,000 per intern per year support of stipend plus grant, and for companies they build a ready pipeline without fresh hiring costs.
The recognition also signals to other firms that participation is voluntary but valued, and that best practices will be noticed. With the pilot now open to a wider set of firms including MSMEs, Global Capability Centres and SEZs, the awards create healthy competition to improve standards quickly as the scheme heads toward its larger target of one crore internships.
The Way Forward
The pilot phase offers clear lessons and next steps. Early data showed that of 60,866 offers in Round I, only 28,144 were accepted and 8,760 joined, and of those who joined, more than half dropped out before completion. Round II saw 71,195 offers, 24,638 acceptances and 7,300 joinings. In response, the government has already raised the stipend to ₹9,000, shortened the period to 6 to 9 months, allowed rolling cycles where companies can post, select and onboard continuously, and added features like geo-tagging of locations, transfer of vacancies across locations and visibility of additional benefits offered by companies.
For the main scheme to reach scale, three things will be critical. First, awareness and outreach through targeted information, education and communication and coordination with states and industry bodies must ensure that youth in all 735 districts know about the portal, the eligibility rules and the benefits. Second, location matching must improve, since many candidates prefer opportunities close to home, and the ability to shift vacancies to where demand is higher can reduce dropouts. Third, credible exit pathways similar to the POWERGRID and PSSC linkage need to become standard, so that a completion certificate jointly issued by MCA and the partner company, with digital verification, translates into interviews and jobs.
If these fixes hold, PMIS can move from a pilot that tested processes to a national platform that links skilling, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, and industry demand. The awards in New Delhi were therefore not just a celebration but a feedback loop, show what good looks like so that more companies copy it.
Key Takeaways
- The PMIS Industry Awards 2026, branded as Recognition of Partner Company Awards, were organised by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 14 August 2026 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi as part of India’s 80th Independence Day celebrations.
- Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd was named the Overall Industry Champion for its leadership in the pilot phase of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme.
- HDFC Bank Ltd won the Pre-Internship Excellence Award, Shriram Finance Ltd won Internship Management Excellence, IBM India Pvt Ltd won Innovation in Program Implementation and POWERGRID won Innovation in Exit Pathways after offering 6,265 internships till December 2025.
- The Prime Minister Internship Scheme, announced in Budget 2024-25 and launched as a pilot on 3 October 2024, is administered by the MCA through pminternship.mca.gov.in with a target of one crore internships in five years and a pilot target of 1.25 lakh in FY 2024-25.
- Under revised guidelines from 12 March 2026, PMIS internships last 6 to 9 months, are open to youth aged 18 to 25 years, and provide ₹9,000 per month with ₹8,100 from the government and ₹900 from the company plus a ₹6,000 incidental grant.
- POWERGRID, a Maharatna PSU under the Ministry of Power incorporated on 23 October 1989 and headquartered in Gurugram, linked its PMIS interns to jobs through the Rozgaar portal of the Power Sector Skill Council.
