If you go to any college canteen in India now you will hear people asking the same thing. They will ask you how internships have you done. A years ago students were mostly worried about their marks and the final placement season.. Now students start worrying about this a lot earlier sometimes from the first year itself. People even call this the internship race when they talk about it online. The internship race is what students are really focused, on.

This is not something people talk about in casual conversations. There are numbers that support this idea. The India Skills Report 2026 which was created by ETS along with CII, AICTE and AIU talked to over one hundred thousand students and graduates. They found out that 93 percent of Indian students are looking for internships or real work experience. Some states, like Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have a lot of students looking for this. This is a deal. Most of India’s students are looking for the thing at the same time, which is internships or real work experience. The India Skills Report 2026 shows that this is what most Indian students want.

So Why Are Students Doing So Many Internships?
One internship was enough for a resume in the past. That is not the case now. Here is what is really making students want to have two, three or even four internships before they graduate.

Having a degree is not impressive anymore. Companies want to hire people who have already gained some experience in the job they are applying for. For example if there are two commerce graduates and one of them has already worked at an accountant firm, a financial technology startup and a bank that person has an advantage. The degree can get you an interview. The internships will determine if you are taken seriously.

Colleges are also pushing students to do internships. Many colleges, especially engineering colleges under the All India Council for Technical Education require students to do internships. Students need to complete an internship to pass a semester or earn credits. The placement cells in colleges like to show off the number of internships students have done because it makes the college look good to recruiters.

Students do not want to be left. This is where peer pressure comes in. When a student sees their classmates with internships listed on LinkedIn it can be scary. The student thinks “if I do not have internships will I even be considered for a job?” Websites like Internshala and the All India Council for Technical Education Internship Portal make it easy to apply for internships at once so students just keep applying. It is normal now to see a student doing a content writing job and a data internship at the same time just to look better on paper.

The job market is very tough. India has graduates every year but not all of them are ready to work. Every job opening gets applications. Doing internships feels like the one thing a student can control instead of waiting for the economy or the education system to improve.

Students are doing internships because they want to be ready for the job market. They want to have internships, like a commerce graduate who has worked at an accountant firm, a financial technology startup and a bank. Colleges are also requiring students to do internships, which is making students want to do internships. The job market is tough and students want to have an advantage when they apply for jobs so they are doing internships.

Now the Uncomfortable Part: Are Unpaid Internships Even Fair?
This is where things get really messy. There is a debate going on in courtrooms and law colleges all over the country right now.

Here is the truth. Most internships in India do not pay anything. There is no law that says companies have to pay interns. If we compare this to France any internship that is longer than two months has to be paid by law. In the UK unpaid internships are only allowed for students who are really studying not for people who are doing full-time work. In India it is up to the company to decide if they want to pay their interns or not. A company can pay its interns zero rupees because Indian labour law does not say clearly who is an intern and who is an employee.

Law students are the ones who feel this the most. The Bar Council of India has suggested that interns should get a stipend of around ₹20,000 a month in cities and ₹15,000 in smaller towns.. This is just a suggestion so a lot of law firms do not follow it. There have been cases where interns work days do real legal research make documents and even go to court but they do not get paid for it. This became such an issue that someone took it to the Supreme Court and asked for legal protection for interns saying it is “free labour that is made to look like mentorship.”

To be honest the money is not the biggest problem. The real issue is who can afford to work for free. A student from a family in Delhi or Mumbai can survive for three months without getting paid because they can stay at home or with relatives.. A student from a small town or a family that does not have a lot of money cannot move to a big city and work for nothing. So unpaid internships quietly stop students who do not have a lot of money from getting ahead while helping students who already have it easier. This is the problem with unpaid internships. Internships were supposed to help students who just graduated from college get a job.. Now in a lot of cases they are doing the opposite.

To be not all unpaid internships are bad. If a first-year student is just following someone around or doing tasks it makes sense that they do not get paid a lot. The real problem is when a year or final-year student is doing important work that makes money for the company but they still do not get paid. That is not learning that is just working for free with a name. Internships like these are the problem. Internships are supposed to help law students learn and get ready, for a job. Now they are just a way for companies to get free labour from interns.

Is Anyone Actually Trying to Fix This?
Yes. It is really one of the more hopeful things happening now. The Prime Minister Internship Scheme or PMIS was started by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in October 2024. This scheme is meant to give people from families that do not have a lot of money a paid internship at one of the top 500 companies in India. Companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra are part of the Prime Minister Internship Scheme.

The people who get selected for the Prime Minister Internship Scheme get a stipend, a one-time grant when they join, insurance and a certificate when they finish the internship. The Prime Minister Internship Scheme is for 12 months. The interns will spend at least half of the time doing actual work not just watching others.

The number of people who applied for the Prime Minister Internship Scheme shows how much it was needed. In the phase over 6 lakh students applied for just 1.25 lakh spots in the Prime Minister Internship Scheme. The second phase had, than 1.18 lakh opportunities at 327 companies. The government looked at the private internship market. Saw that it was not paying enough or including enough students so the government decided to start the Prime Minister Internship Scheme.

Do Internships Actually Help You Get a Job?
This is the part where we talk about why students deal with all the hassle. The truth is, internships really work, if we look at the numbers.

According to the India Skills Report 2026 the number of people in India who can get a job is now 56.35 percent, which’s more than last year when it was 54.81 percent. This is an increase and the report says it is because more students are getting to work with companies through internships and projects. Students who study computer science and IT where internships are almost a must have the chance of getting a job at 80 and 78 percent. The report tells people who make decisions that they should make internships a part of every course, not something extra because it is one of the reasons why more people in India can get a job.

The way companies hire people also shows that this is true. On websites like Internshala students say that doing three or four internships in fields like digital marketing then content, then data analysis helps them figure out what they are good at instead of just guessing after they finish college. Big companies like Google India, Deloitte, Amazon and Microsoft use their internship programs as the step in hiring. Students who do well in these internships often get a job offer before they even finish their year of college.

So it is clear that internships help people get jobs. The problem is that now the system helps students who can afford to do internships for free for many months and often far from home more than it helps students who are really talented or really interested in the field. Internships are a deal and students who can do them have an advantage. The India Skills Report 2026 and companies like Google India, Deloitte, Amazon and Microsoft all show that internships are important, for getting a job.

What Would Actually Make This Fair?
To make things better we need to make a changes.

● We need to have a rule that says companies have to pay interns a minimum amount of money if the internship’s really long or if the intern is really experienced, like they do in France. This way companies cannot take advantage of students who’re in their last year of college and make them work for free for months just saying it is for training.

● We need to have government programs that pay students like PMIS so students from small towns and poor families can have the same opportunities as students from big cities who have connections and can do unpaid internships.

● Colleges need to be honest about what they want from internships. It is okay if colleges make internships required. They also need to help students find internships that pay instead of just needing a piece of paper to prove they did the internship.

The competition, for internships is not going to slow down. Actually it is probably going to get worse because companies are hiring people based on what they can do not what degree they have. The real question is not whether internships are important because they clearly are. The real question is whether India is willing to make sure every student, not the rich ones who can work for free gets a fair chance to compete for internships.