New Delhi: In a bid to provide jobs to the youth, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday proposed to launch an ambitious scheme for providing internship opportunities in 500 top companies to 1 crore youth over a five-year period.

Under the scheme, an internship allowance of Rs 5,000 per month, along with a one-time assistance of Rs 6,000 will be provided to youths.

"As the 5th scheme under the Prime Minister's package, our government will launch a comprehensive scheme for providing internship opportunities in 500 top companies to 1 crore youth in five years," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.

These youths will gain exposure for 12 months to real-life business environments, varied professions and employment opportunities.

She said that companies will bear the training cost and 10 per cent of the internship cost from their CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds.

As per the Companies Act 2013, certain classes of profitable organisations are required to shell out at least 2 per cent of the three-year annual net profit towards CSR activities in a particular financial year.