A flagship programme by the Central government announced during the Covid-19 pandemic period in 2020, the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) was launched with an aim toward the creation of new employment opportunities. As per the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the scheme was launched mainly to incentivise employees while providing new employment along with social security benefits.
The scheme was launched to help the employees who lost jobs during the pandemic. It was launched in collaboration with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to offer the provident fund benefits to the employees finding jobs in new establishments.
So far the scheme has been extended multiple times. Scroll down to learn more about the government-aided employment scheme.
Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana
According to the government notice, the ABRY was launched in October 2020 and has been extended a number of times since then. It was implemented through the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to reduce the financial burden on the employers across sectors/industries including MSMEs to further encourage them to hire more workers.
Under the scheme, the Central government bears both the employees’ EPF share (12% of basic salary and dearness allowance) and the same amount contributed by the employer, depending on the employment strength of the EPFO-registered establishments. The government will pay the subsidy for the next two years from the date of registration.
At the time of launch, an outlay of Rs 22,810 crore was approved by the government for the scheme implementation.
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Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana: Benefits
Some of the key benefits of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana are as follows:
1. The government will pay the subsidy for the Provident Fund contributions to the organisations upon hiring new employees.
2. Organisations with less than 1,000 employees will receive the employees’ and the employers’ share of EPF contribution for the next two years.
3. Organisations with over 1,000 employees will receive the employees’ contribution of 12 per cent alone for the next two years.
Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana: Eligibility
1. Employees receiving less than Rs 15,000 in EPFO-registered establishments are eligible for the scheme.
2. Employees who have left their jobs between March 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, and joined any establishment between October 1, 2020, and March 31, 2022.
3. Organisations that have registered with EPFO after 1 October 2020 are also eligible to get the benefits in respect of new employees.
Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana: How to apply?
To avail of the benefits under the scheme, employers can follow the given steps:
1. Go to the ‘Employer’s Portal’ on the EPFO Unified Portal.
2. Next, you need to update form 5A.
3. On the portal, you will need to register under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana.
4. Check all the details of the employee and register him under the ‘New Employee’ tab. If the employee already has an EPFO membership, this should be confirmed here.
5. Next, you need to file an Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) for all the existing employees including the new ones.
6. Following this, organisations and employers become eligible to claim the benefits under the scheme.
