File photo of ICAI President Prasanna Kumar D. Chartered Accountants (CA) firms are set to soon onboard interns under the Pradhan Mantri Internship Scheme (PMIS), with a minimum monthly stipend of ₹9,000, mostly funded by the government.

Chartered Accountant (CA) firms are likely to start accepting interns under the Pradhan Mantri Internship Scheme (PMIS) soon. Meanwhile, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has implemented a revised code of ethics, allowing the issuance of advertisements, among other changes.

“Under the scheme, an intern can get at least ₹9,000 per month, out of which ₹8,100 is provided by the government and the remaining ₹900 or even more can be provided by CA Firms from a non-Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) fund. There is agreement on this issue with the government,” ICAI President Prasanna Kumar D told businessline. Since the PMIS guidelines prescribe payment of the company’s contribution through the CSR fund, and CA firms do not have that fund, there was a technical issue. Now that has been resolved.

As part of Budget 2024-25, PMIS aims to provide internship opportunities to 1 crore youth across the top 500 companies over 5 years. Under the scheme, the company is expected to provide the person with actual working experience in a skill in which the company is directly involved. At least half of the internship period would be spent in the actual work/ real-life business environment.

On the issue of another budget announcement, introduction of PM Mitra, Kumar said: “We have given our inputs to the government. We expect the scheme will see launch soon as early as next month,” he said. Earlier, the institute had said that it was working on a 9-month curriculum, with theoretical and practical training provided over the same period. With a nationwide network of 5 Regional Councils and 186 branches, including a strong footprint in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, the Institute offers an established last-mile professional infrastructure precisely where MSMEs are densely located.

This enables delivery of structured compliance and advisory support without geographical or cost barriers that often restrict smaller enterprises from accessing quality professional services. The primary objectives of these Corporate Mitras courses are to create a pool of industry-ready Corporate Mitras with strong practical knowledge. It will also enable MSMEs to access affordable and effective compliance and advisory support.

Revised Code of Ethics

Meanwhile, ICAI has made the revised (13th edition) Code of Ethics Public, with April 1 as the implementation date. According to Kumar, one of the significant changes is permitting CA firms to advertise. “This will be an important step for becoming big in line with PM’s vision for creating big desi firms,” he said. Revised code says, “The Members may advertise through a write up setting out their particulars or of their firms and services provided by them subject to the Guidelines by ICAI and must be presented in such a manner as to maintain the profession’s good reputation, dignity and its ability to serve the public interest,” it said while adding that the institute will neither approve a proposed write-up, nor owns any responsibility whatsoever for such contents or claims by the writer Member(s)/ Firm(s)

Other changes in the code enable strengthening the independence provision relating to Non-Assurance Services for audit clients. There are new ethics standards for Sustainability Assurance, including Independence Standards, as Volume III of the Code of Ethics. It prescribes that under the revised website guidelines, members and firms may now use “push technology” for non-exclusive services and “pull mode” technology for exclusive services. It will also enable inclusion of services under Management Consultancy and Other Services, such as forensic accounting, research analysis, social impact assessment and evaluation, artificial intelligence, and other emerging areas.

Published on June 3, 2026