To create more jobs, the finance minister on Thursday announced a special subsidy scheme — Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana. Under the scheme, those establishments that make new hiring will get a special EPF subsidy from the central government. The EPF statutory subsidy will be given for a period of two years from the date of their employment during the above period.
Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, every Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)-registered establishment taking new employees would get this subsidy.
Any new employee joining employment in EPFO registered establishments on a monthly wage of less than Rs. 15,000 will be eligible to get the benefit. Employee’s contribution (12%) and employer’s contribution (12%) totaling 24% of wages will be given to establishments, the finance minister said.
Employee’s contribution (12% of wages) and employer’s contribution (12% on wages) totaling 24% of wages will be given to establishments for two years. Every Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) registered establishment taking new employees will be eligible to get the benefit of this subsidy. However, there are some pre-conditions that the employers must fulfill to avail the benefits announced under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana.
The scheme will also cover EPF members drawing monthly wages of less than ₹15,000, who made an exit from employment during the COVID-19 pandemic from 1 March 2020 and is employed on or after 1 October 2020.
The Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana will cover establishments registered with EPFO if they add new employees compared to the reference base of employees as in September 2020. The condition will be adding a minimum of two new employees for establishments with up to 50 employees. Those establishments with more than 50 employees, will have to give a minimum of five new jobs. The scheme would be applicable till 30 June 2021.
“Atma Nirbhar Bharat 3.0 has been announced in the backdrop of improving economic activity and is a mixed bag of announcements for various sectors. Few new schemes such as the subsidy for both employee and employer contribution to EPF with a condition of additional recruitment, have been introduced. This would go a long way in reducing the cost of production viewed in toto with the PLI scheme and other announcements,” said Divakar Vijayasarathy, Founder & Managing Partner, DVS Advisors LLP.
Mean-while, India on Thursday recorded 47,905 news cases of the coronavirus disease which pushed up the overall tally to 86,83,916, according to a Union health ministry update. The number of new fatalities recorded was 550 after which the death toll reached 1,28,121.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan interacted with chief ministers, state health ministers, principal secretaries, and additional chief secretaries of seven states where districts have a higher Covid-19 positivity rate. These states are Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura Meghalaya, and Goa.
