The central government has decided to pay bonus- productivity linked and on ad-hoc basis - to non-gazetted government employees and non-gazetted employees of commercial establishments of various ministries and departments, on an immediate basis, to help them make festival purchases.
A meeting of the union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave approval for payment of productivity linked bonus (PLB) for the year 2019-2020 to 1.70 million non-gazetted employees of commercial establishments like Railways, India Post, defence, EPFO, ESIC etc. This will have a financial implication of Rs2,791 crore on the government, says a cabinet release.
About 1.37 million non-gazetted central government employees would also be benefited by an ad hoc payment of bonus. This would have financial implications to the tune of Rs946 crore on the centre.
A total of 3.07 million employees would be benefited by the bonus announcement and total financial implication will be Rs3,737 crore.
Payment of Bonus to non-gazetted employees for their performance in the preceding year is usually made before Durga Puja/Dussehra season. The government is announcing the productivity linked bonus (PLB) and ad hoc bonus for its non-gazetted employees to be disbursed immediately.
The bonus will be paid in a single installment, through direct benefit transfer, before Vijayadashami, union minister Prakash Javadekar said. “This will encourage the middle-class to spend and thus add to the demand in the economy," the minister added.
The announcement comes a day after thousands of railway employees staged protests across the country against the "inordinate delay" in payment of productivity-linked bonus, defying warning of stringent action by the Railway Board, according to the All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF).