India is witnessing a critical decline in internship opportunities, leaving a generation of young professionals without essential practical experience and widening the skills gap. Traditionally, internships served as a vital pathway for fresh graduates to gain hands-on exposure before entering the workforce. However, this pathway is shrinking, and the remaining trainee roles often offer little real training.
Mohammed Emroz, a final-year BTech student from Jamia Millia Islamia, exemplifies this trend. With only 20 days of hands-on experience in mechanical engineering—far less than the year of practical training typically expected—he faces stiff requirements from prospective employers. Despite his efforts, securing meaningful internships has been a challenge, with limited support from his university’s placement cell and minimal encouragement from faculty.
Emroz’s journey took him to a PSU in another city, where he paid for a month-long stay in Mumbai to learn basic tools like hammers and drills—experiences that, while not formally taught, earned him a semester credit. Experts say his experience is representative of a broader national issue: most students end up with either no internships or superficial certifications that do little to enhance employability.
Industry insiders highlight that companies now prefer hiring a smaller number of trainees instead of larger intern pools. These trainees, often paid stipends but kept unofficially off payrolls, are sometimes just as unskilled as interns, but with less opportunity for genuine skill development. This trend further diminishes the pool of truly employable talent.
Government Initiatives and Their Challenges
To address the skills gap, the government launched the PM Internship Scheme two years ago, allocating over Rs 12,000 crore. Yet, participation remains dismal. In 2024, out of 6.21 lakh applications, only around 8,760 students secured internships, with just 3,605 completing them—less than 1% of applicants. The situation has not improved significantly, with over 7,290 dropouts reported as of March 2026.
In response, the government has introduced reforms, increasing stipends from Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,000 and relaxing age criteria to encourage more applicants. Despite these measures, systemic issues persist, including a declining culture of on-the-job training, especially in highly technical fields like engineering, law, and media.
Deepening Inequalities and Barriers to Skill Acquisition
In a country marked by stark educational inequalities, access to quality internships often depends on privilege—personal contacts, industry connections, or leverage that can give candidates an edge over equally capable peers. Fields such as chartered accountancy and journalism still offer meaningful internship experiences, but technical sectors lag behind.
While employer confidence in hiring freshers has risen—up to 73% in some sectors—this optimism does not extend uniformly across all fields. In sectors like engineering, both internships and jobs remain scarce, further limiting opportunities for skill development.
Career experts emphasize that internships have never been a widespread, embedded culture in India but are mainly tied to specific academic programs. As a result, many students rely on chance encounters rather than structured pathways, leading to a highly unequal and inefficient system.
The Way Forward
Experts argue that without systemic reforms to foster genuine skill-building and equitable access, the current internship crisis will persist, leaving millions unprepared for the modern job market. As India aims for economic growth, addressing this skills gap remains critical to ensure a future workforce equipped for the demands of the evolving global economy.
