Post on Internshala, where more than 32 million students are registered and one listing a month is free with access to the first 20 applications, and on AICTE's National Internship Portal, the government platform with 83,170 companies on it; add Unstop, LinkedIn and the placement cell of a nearby college. Scope a real project with a mentor and an outcome rather than errands, and pay a stipend. Shortlist with a small paid task, not a long interview. Give a written internship letter stating the duration, stipend, hours and that it is a training engagement, and have the intern sign confidentiality and IP assignment terms so the work belongs to the company. Treat a good internship as a trial: the best interns are your cheapest and surest full-time hires.
India-specific advice written by an Indian technical founder, addressing the real competition for engineering talent in the local ecosystem. Grounded in how hiring actually works here.
This is the operational how-to behind our short answer: how to run a paid, job-representative trial, drawing on how Linear, Automattic, 37signals, Gumroad, and PostHog actually do it. It answers the questions the shorter essays skip, like how long, paid or not, real task or synthetic, and how to score the output. If you only read one thing on running a trial, make it this.
India's student hiring platform, with more than 32 million students registered. One free posting a month, with access to the first 20 applications; a premium listing or plan shows more applications and adds a relationship manager.
The government's national internship portal, run by AICTE under the Ministry of Education, for AICTE, UGC and IGNOU students. Employers post through the Industry login; it lists 83,170 companies and the page says registration and applications cost students nothing.
An Indian platform where students take part in competitions, hackathons and quizzes and apply for internships. Recruiters can post internships or run a challenge to find students by what they can do.
This is a ready-to-fill IP assignment and confidentiality agreement hosted on the government's own Startup India portal, so it is drafted for Indian law and free to use. It gives a non-lawyer the actual assignment and confidentiality language to adapt for a developer and get signed. Treat it as a starting point: it is written employer to employee, so swap the party labels for a contractor engagement and, ideally, have a lawyer glance at the final version.
