How to Register and Apply for the PM Internship Scheme on pminternship.mca.gov.in

How to Register and Apply for the PM Internship Scheme on pminternship.mca.gov.in

Applying for the Prime Minister's Internship Scheme (PMIS) happens entirely on one website, pminternship.mca.gov.in, in a fixed sequence: register with your Aadhaar-linked mobile number, build a candidate profile, upload your certificates, choose your internship preferences, and then accept an offer within the time-bound window the portal gives you. There is no offline form, no authorised agent and no fee at any stage. This guide walks through each of those steps in order, along with what to prepare before you start and what happens after you submit. For the scheme's eligibility rules, stipend structure and exclusions, see the parent guide to the Prime Minister's Internship Scheme (PMIS).

Before you start: what to have ready

Get these four things in place first, because the portal will stop you mid-way without them.

• An Aadhaar-linked mobile number. Registration and identity verification run on an OTP sent to the mobile number seeded in your Aadhaar record. If your number has changed, update it at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra before you begin, not after.
• An Aadhaar-seeded bank account. The government share of the stipend, Rs 8,100 of the Rs 9,000 monthly total, is paid by Direct Benefit Transfer, as is the one-time Rs 6,000 joining grant. An account that is merely linked to Aadhaar for KYC is not the same as one seeded for DBT; confirm the seeding with your bank.
• Your educational certificates in scanned form. Class 10, Class 12, ITI certificate, polytechnic diploma or degree, whichever qualification you are applying on.
• A No Objection Certificate, if you are a final-year student. Final-year graduate and postgraduate students became eligible in 2026, but only with an NOC signed by the head of department, dean, principal or placement officer confirming the internship will not clash with academic requirements. Ask for it early; institutional signatures take days.

Also settle your family income declaration before you sit down to apply. The long-standing PMIS criterion is that no family member earned above Rs 8 lakh in the preceding financial year, and reporting on the April 2026 expansion says the figure was unchanged, though some 2026 institutional circulars cite Rs 12 lakh. Because those two numbers cannot be reconciled from published Ministry of Corporate Affairs material, check the ceiling stated on the portal itself on the day you apply.

Step 1: Register as a candidate

Open pminternship.mca.gov.in and click Register as Candidate. This is the only valid application route for PMIS. Any other website that offers to register you, and any individual who offers to do it for a fee, is running a scam.

You will be asked for basic identity details and your mobile number. Enter the number that is linked to your Aadhaar, not a spare one.

Step 2: Verify with the Aadhaar OTP

The portal sends a one-time password to your Aadhaar-linked mobile number. Enter it to complete verification and activate your account.

This is where most first-attempt registrations stall. If the OTP does not arrive, the usual cause is that the number in the Aadhaar database is an old one. No amount of retrying fixes that; the Aadhaar record has to be updated first.

Step 3: Build your candidate profile

Fill in your education details, skills, and preferred sector and location. Take this seriously, the portal generates your resume from this profile, and that resume is what host companies see when they shortlist.

Two fields carry more weight than they appear to:

• Sector preference determines which of the 20-plus participating sectors your profile is matched against.
• Location preference determines which postings you are shown at all. Setting it too narrowly can leave you with very few matches; setting it honestly matters more, since you will have to actually report to that workplace for twelve months.

Add a passport-size photograph and resume detail as well. Neither is formally mandatory, but both feed the profile a company reviews.

Step 4: Upload your documents

Upload the mandatory set, your educational certificates and your family income declaration, plus the No Objection Certificate if you are a final-year student. Scan documents cleanly and check that names match your Aadhaar exactly; a mismatch between the name on a certificate and the name on Aadhaar is a routine cause of delay.

Step 5: Select your internship preferences

Browse the internship opportunities the portal matches to your profile and select your preferences. The portal allows only a limited number of choices, so treat the list as a ranked shortlist rather than a scattergun. Postings come from India's top 500 companies, identified by their average CSR expenditure over the previous three years.

Step 6: Wait for shortlisting, then accept the offer in time

Host companies review matched profiles, shortlist candidates and issue offers through the portal. When an offer arrives you must accept it within the timeline shown on the portal.

This is the single most consequential deadline in the whole process. The acceptance window is time-bound, and letting it lapse is treated as declining, you forfeit the offer and wait for a subsequent round. Watch both your registered mobile number and email, since that is where notifications land, and log in to the dashboard regularly rather than relying on a message arriving.

Step 7: Complete joining formalities

Once you have accepted, complete joining formalities with the host company and confirm your bank details on the portal so the DBT stipend and the Rs 6,000 joining grant can be credited. An Aadhaar-and-bank mismatch does not cost you the internship, but it will hold up your money until it is corrected.

You are also enrolled for insurance cover under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, with the premiums paid by the government. Host companies may add their own accident cover.

Common mistakes that sink an application

• Applying with a non-Aadhaar-linked mobile number, which blocks OTP verification at step 2.
• A bank account that is linked but not DBT-seeded, which stalls the stipend after selection.
• Requesting the NOC too late, leaving a final-year application incomplete when the round closes.
• Missing the offer acceptance window, which the portal reads as a refusal.
• Setting location preferences you cannot actually relocate to, which produces offers you then have to decline.

Help while applying

If you get stuck, call the PMIS helpline on 1800-11-6090 or use the support channels on pminternship.mca.gov.in. Registration is free from start to finish: no consultant, no fast-track, and nobody who is authorised to charge you for an offer or for releasing your stipend.