Also, establishments that hire new employees on or after October 2020 and until March 2022, or those who lost their job between March 2020 and September 2020, are eligible for the scheme.
The Center may miss the target set under a subsidy scheme of the Provision Fund (PF) to boost employment by a wide margin. The number of low-income people benefiting from the scheme was 5.2 million as of March 12, while the target was to boost 7.2 million job creation/relocation by March 31, 2022.
Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), the Center pays for a period of two years both the employee share (12% of base salary) and employer share (12%) of the EPF contribution to be paid for companies with up to 1,000 employees . Also, the employee share is paid by the government for those who earn less than Rs 15,000 per month in companies employing more than 1,000 people.
Also, establishments that hire new employees on or after October 2020 and until March 2022, or those who lost their job between March 2020 and September 2020, are eligible for the scheme.
Under the ABRY, beneficiaries registered until March 31, 2022 will continue to receive benefits for two years from the date of registration under the scheme.
The ABRY was announced as one of the measures under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package to boost the economy and increase formal sector employment during the post-Covid recovery phase. The scheme was aimed at minimizing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the country’s economy and easing the hardships of low-paid workers.
When the scheme was approved in December 2020, the Cabinet had pegged the expenditure of the scheme at Rs 22,810 crore for the entire scheme period from 2020-2023. In June last year, the registration deadline of beneficiaries was extended by nine months to March 2022, but the estimated expenditure amount was reduced to Rs 22,098 crore. At the same time, the number of targeted beneficiaries was increased to 7.18 million from the previous estimate of 5.85 million.
The Department of Labor is trying through the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) to encourage people to take advantage of the facility. Employers who are not registered under the ABRY are informed through messages on the EPFO employer portal. Webinars are conducted through zonal and regional offices of the EPFO with employers and employers’ associations.
This post Job creation via provision fund subsidy: government misses target by far
was original published at “https://www.financialexpress.com/economy/job-creation-via-pf-subsidy-govt-to-miss-target-by-wide-margin/2464408/”
