The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, during his address to the nation on 12 May 2020 announced the way forward for India in its battle again COVID-19. Among the announcements made about how India is tackling the virus, Narendra Modi announced a stimulus package of RS.20 lakh crore under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
Government launches Atmanirbhar Bharat 3.0
The Government of India has launched Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana under Atmanirbhar 3.0 to incentivize job creation. The scheme is applicable for organisations registered under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). This scheme will remain effective from 1 October 2020 till 30 June 2021.
Eligibitlity Criteria for the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana
The eligibility criteria for employees are:- An employee with a monthly income of less than Rs. 15000/- not employed in any EPFO-registered establishment before 1 October 2020 and who did not have a Universal Account Number or EPF Member account number prior to 1 October 2020.
- Any EPF member with a Universal Account Number (UAN) and a monthly pay of less than Rs. 15000/- who left their job during the Covid epidemic between 1 March 2020 and 30 September 2020 and did not return to work in an EPF-covered firm before that date.
- For organisations with up to 1,000 employees, subsidy support of up to 24% of wages (employee's contribution which is 12% of wages and employer's contribution which is also 12% of wages).
- For organisations with more than 1,000 employees, the subsidy support will be for the employee's EPF contribution which is 12% of the EPF wages.
EPFO-registered organisations that recruit new employees as of September 2020 will be eligible for this scheme. Any organisation that registered with EPFO after the beginning of schemes will also get subsidy for new employees.
The subsidy plan that the central government is planning to follow to support new eligible employees for the next two years are:
The subsidy support will be credited in the EPFO account (UAN) of the eligible new employee which are seeded with Aadhaar. More than 95% of all organisations and 65% of all employees in the formal sector will be covered in the category where EPF contributions are provided as subsidy support by the government.
