Big announcement for EPFO subscribers under PM Gareeb Kalyan Scheme, govt will pay workers’ EPF for 3 months
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a press conference on March 26 said that the Government of India will pay EPF contribution of the employer as well as the employee (12 percent each) for the next three months. However, this will benefit only the establishments with up to 100 employees where 90 percent earn less than Rs 15,000 per month, she said.
This means the government will pay 24 percent of an individual’s salary (12 percent of employees and 12 percent of the employer) for the next three months for companies that come under the announced criteria.
The announcement was made in view of the unprecedented situation prevailing in the country on account of coronavirus.
Benefiting 4.8 crore employees the govt also amended EPFO regulations to allow workers under EPFO to draw up to 75% of their non-refundable advance or 3 months of wages, whichever is lower.
Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to deal with the economic distress caused due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown announced to deal with the situation.
The finance minister had already announced some measures on Tuesday, including the extension of tax deadlines, easing minimum balance norms for the savings account, and increasing threshold of insolvency filing to Rs one crore from Rs one lakh.
The Prime Minister had announced an Economic Task Force to be chaired by the finance minister. The 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will affect the revenue stream of companies and hit their bottom lines. Various rating agencies have revised downwards their growth estimates for FY21.
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