Cabinet approves Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana to boost employment

New Delhi [India], December 9 (ANI): The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave a nod for Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) to boost employment in the formal sector and incentivise creation of new employment opportunities during the COVID-19 recovery phase under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package 3.0, said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The Cabinet has approved an expenditure of Rs 1,584 crore for the current financial year and Rs 22,810 crores for the entire scheme period from 2020 to 2023.
The scheme will provide subsidy for two years in respect of new employees engaged on or after October 1, 2020 and upto June 30, 2021, Prasad said in a press briefing here.
The government will pay both 12 per cent employees' contribution and 12 per cent employers' contribution i.e. 24 per cent of wages towards EPF in respect of new employees in establishments employing upto 1,000 employees for two years.
It will pay only employees' share of EPF contribution i.e. 12 per cent of wages in respect of new employees in establishments employing more than 1,000 employees for two years.
"An employee drawing monthly wage of less than Rs 15,000 who was not working in any establishment registered with the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) before October 1, 2020 and did not have a Universal Account Number (UAN) or EPF Member account number prior to October 1, 2020 will be eligible for the benefit," as per an official release.
Any EPF member possessing Universal Account Number (UAN) drawing monthly wage of less than Rs 15,000 who made exit from employment during COVID pandemic from March 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 and did not join employment in any EPF covered establishment up to September 30, 2020 will also be eligible to avail benefit, it added.
Moreover, EPFO will credit the contribution in Aadhaar seeded account of members in an electronic manner. (ANI)