Only 4% of engineering internship postings in India say what they pay

Two of the first things an applicant needs to know about an internship are what it pays and how long it lasts. They are also the two things a posting is least likely to say. We went through all 425 engineering internships posted in India in September 2026 and recorded which facts each one actually stated.

What the postings said, and what they left out

The pattern is consistent. Facts about the job itself are usually there: where it is, how the work is done, which tools it uses. Money and time are usually not. Fewer than one posting in four said how long the internship would last, and fewer than one in twenty said what it would pay.

A posting that states no stipend is not necessarily unpaid. It means the figure was not on the listing. Every employer in these counts is on InternDoor’s list because we believe it is a real company that pays its interns.

Every September posting that stated a stipend

The 18 postings came from 10 roles; the rest were the same roles posted in more than one city. We checked each one against the posting’s own text. The pay column below is the figure as the posting wrote it.

A few things stand out from a small list.

• Seven of the ten gave a monthly figure, between ₹10,000 and ₹45,000. At least four of those seven were ₹20,000 a month or less.
• Three stated a figure without saying per month. That is probably a monthly figure, but a posting that does not say so has not said it.
• Two separated fixed pay from the rest. One paid ₹16,000 of its ₹20,000 as a fixed amount; another paid ₹8,000 fixed and up to ₹4,000 variable.
• All ten were six months long, and all ten said so.
• Two also stated what a full-time offer would pay after the internship: up to ₹3 LPA in one case and ₹5 LPA in the other. The second also stated a two-year service agreement with a ₹2 lakh bond on conversion.

This is not a picture of what engineering interns in India are paid. The ten roles are the ones whose employers chose to state a figure, which is a small and self-selected group. Treat the list as a calibration point, not a market rate.

A correction to our own count

Our frozen September report counted 19 postings with a stipend. When we checked each one by hand for this post, one turned out to be a figure read from a sentence about the year the company was founded. The correct count is 18. The percentage does not change, and the frozen report stays as it was compiled, so this post is where the correction lives.

What to ask when a posting is silent

Asking about pay is an ordinary part of applying, and it is better asked in writing, before the final round, than discovered on the offer letter.

• The stipend, and whether it is monthly. “Could you share the monthly stipend and the length of this internship?” is enough.
• What is fixed and what is variable. Two of the ten roles above split the figure. A variable part is not a guaranteed part.
• What happens after. Whether the internship can convert to a full-time job, what that job would pay, and whether a conversion comes with a bond or a service agreement.
• Whether anything is deducted or charged. A genuine employer does not charge you to work for it. Our guide to checking a posting covers the warning signs.