Digital India Internship Scheme(DIIS)

Overview

About DIIS

The Digital India Internship Scheme is a paid summer term inside the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in New Delhi, not a scholarship: nobody is means-tested, no fee is reimbursed, and the stipend is earned by finishing a project and getting the report accepted. The 2026 edition offered 51 slots against 29 in 2025, and it dropped Electrical from the branches it names (DIIS 2025 guidelines; DIIS 2026 guidelines).

The scheme suits a student in the second-last year of a technical degree who wants to see the Ministry's technical and policy desks from the inside: B.E., B.Tech, M.E., M.Tech, M.Sc. and MCA students in computing, IT, electronics or communications, with a narrow opening for law students and for economics-and-statistics undergraduates. The guidelines define "the Ministry" to include its attached offices, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate, and every intern works under a scientific or technical supervisor from there (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

myScheme's record describes the 2025 edition, which listed 29 slots across 23 areas (DIIS 2025 guidelines). The 2026 guidelines list 51 slots across 33 areas, with VLSI and Chip Designing taking the largest allotment at five slots, and Digital Forensics and Semiconductors four each. Among the desks added in 2026 are post-quantum security, online gaming and its policy, privacy enhancing technologies, and EMI/EMC and safety evaluation of IT products (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

The two editions differ on more than size, as the comparison below shows.

Neither edition sets an income limit, a reserved category or an age limit. Selection turns on the course, the marks floor and how well an applicant fits a domain.

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The 2025 and 2026 editions both opened on the portal in April, kept the window open for about three weeks, and started the internship at the beginning of June (DIIS 2025 guidelines; DIIS 2026 guidelines). The 2026 timetable ran as follows.

In September 2026 the portal's schedule page still carried this 2026 timetable, and no later edition had been announced (DIIS 2026 time schedule).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

Beyond being an Indian student at a recognised Indian university, three conditions decided eligibility in 2026: at least 60% in the last degree or certificate examination, a course on the Ministry's list, and the right year of study. The year rule is narrower than it looks, since anyone in the last semester or passing out in summer 2026 was ineligible and only second-last-year students were accepted (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

Your course also fixes which areas you can pick. The portal's eligibility page spells out the lock in footnotes: a law student is considered only for the two internet and gaming policy areas, and an economics-and-statistics student only for Digital Economy (Know Your Eligibility).

Two gaps in the myScheme record matter here. Its course list is the 2025 one, which put Electrical beside Electronics for both engineering and M.Sc. degrees, while the 2026 table does not name Electrical at all. The record's line for the internet-policy area also lost its degree; the 2025 guidelines show it as LL.B (DIIS 2025 guidelines; DIIS 2026 guidelines).

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

The scheme record lists the formal bars; three practical ones come from the guidelines, the portal and the 2026 schedule.

• The wrong degree for the chosen area. A law or economics student who picks a technical desk is not considered for it (Know Your Eligibility).
• No sponsorship from your institution. The application has to be sponsored or forwarded by the institution you are enrolled in, and the portal asks for its recommendation as an upload (DIIS 2026 guidelines; DIIS user manual).
• A missed confirmation window. An offer has to be confirmed within three days, and the 2026 schedule moved to a wait-list round as soon as the confirmation dates had passed (DIIS user manual; DIIS 2026 time schedule).

Continuation

Renewal conditions

There is nothing to renew. Each edition is a single term of at least two months, extendable to three depending on performance, the Ministry's requirement and how long the intern can stay, and neither the 2025 nor the 2026 guidelines say whether a former intern may apply to a later edition (DIIS 2025 guidelines; DIIS 2026 guidelines).

What you get

Award & benefits

Nothing is paid during the term. The Rs 10,000 monthly stipend is settled after the internship, once the report has been accepted, and it depends on the supervisor certifying satisfactory performance (DIIS 2026 guidelines). For 2026, the term ended on 31 July, the intern's Group Coordinator had until 11 August to accept and upload the report, and completion certificates were due between 12 and 18 August (DIIS 2026 time schedule). The user manual asks for bank account details at the offer-confirmation step (DIIS user manual).

Because the stipend arrives only after the report is accepted, an intern working on site in Delhi pays for the two months up front. Interns arrange their own accommodation, and the Ministry's library is for reference only, with photocopies available on payment of charges. The completion certificate is issued once the report has been countersigned and accepted by the competent authority, whom the guidelines define as the Secretary of MeitY (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

• A token stipend of ₹10,000/- per month would be paid to an intern, subject to satisfactory performance, duly certified by his supervisor/mentor.
• Certificates will be issued by the Ministry to the interns upon the completion of the internship and submission of the Report duly countersigned and accepted by the competent authority.
• NOTE: The intern shall be paid after the completion of the internship on submission of a report duly accepted by this ministry.

What to prepare

Documents required

The documents are the ones in the record; what the record leaves out is the file rules the portal applies at upload.

The recommendation has to come from the institution where you are currently enrolled, because the guidelines require that institution to sponsor or forward the application (DIIS 2026 guidelines). The form also asks for a statement of purpose, two distinct references, and your marks as a percentage with CGPA optional; neither edition's guidelines publish a CGPA-to-percentage conversion (DIIS user manual).

Step by step

How to apply

Applications go only through the Ministry's portal at intern.meity.gov.in, and only while a window is open; after the 2026 round the login page read "Registration is closed!" (DIIS portal). The steps, as the applicant manual sets them out, run in this order:

1. Register with your name, mobile number, email address and a password; an OTP goes to the email, which then becomes your login ID.
2. Log in as an applicant and choose Apply for Internship from the top menu.
3. Fill in personal details, including the statement of purpose, and upload the photograph and signature.
4. Fill in academic details and pick up to two project preferences.
5. Add two references, click I Agree, then Preview & Proceed.
6. Upload the PDFs and make the final submission.
7. Keep the acknowledgement letter, which carries a unique reference number and is also emailed to you.

The sequence follows the Ministry's applicant user manual. Because the organisation, group or division that owns each domain shortlists for its own slots, your two preferences in effect decide which desks read the application (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

Tracking the Application, the Offer and the Stipend

Status shows up in two places. Logged in, the dashboard's Track Application section carries the updates, and the offer letter appears there as well as in your registered email (DIIS user manual). Without logging in, the portal's Track Your Application page takes the application reference number and the registered email address.

Selected names are posted on the portal's List of Selected Candidates page, and the 2026 list gave each intern's application number, name and area (DIIS 2026 selection list). Once you confirm an offer, a confirmation letter appears in your account. The manual describes no separate stipend tracker, so a payment question goes to the scheme's support email (DIIS user manual).

How winners are picked

Selection process

Selection is decentralised. The organisation, group or division that owns each domain shortlists and selects its own interns, and may hold a personal or Skype interview if it considers one necessary; the guidelines publish no marks-based ranking or weightage formula (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

In 2026, scrutiny ran from 30 April to 12 May, results and offers came on 19 May, and a wait-list round followed from 22 May (DIIS 2026 time schedule). The published 2026 list named 51 interns, the same as the number of slots in the guidelines (DIIS 2026 selection list; DIIS 2026 guidelines).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Interns follow the rules that apply to the Ministry's own employees. Unless the supervisor permits otherwise in writing, they are generally expected at the Ministry from 09.00 am to 05.30 pm, and the supervisor decides whether a particular internship runs virtually or in person (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

The project report must be identical for the Ministry and for your own institution. Its cover page and certificates have to state that the work was done at the Ministry, and its acknowledgement must name your supervisor and the Secretary, MeitY. A No-Demand Certificate in the prescribed format, handed in with soft and hard copies of the report, closes the internship (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

Anything you publish from the work must carry a caveat that the views are your own, and presenting it at a seminar needs the Ministry's prior permission. Leaving early needs two weeks' notice and the return of any ID card or equipment, while the Ministry can end an internship at any time without giving a reason (DIIS 2026 guidelines).

Get help

Contact

The scheme publishes one channel, the email support-diis@meity.gov.in, listed on the portal's Contact Us page with no helpline number beside it. The applicant manual gives the Ministry's address as Electronics Niketan, 6 CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003 (DIIS user manual).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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References

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