Cabinet approves extension of deadline for registration under EPF support scheme to end of fiscal
01 Jul 2021
The union cabinet has approved the proposed extension of the deadline for registration under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), under which the government bears the share of both the employer and employee towards subscription to the Employees Providend Fund, foe another nine months.
The union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for extending the terminal date for registration of beneficiaries for availing the benefit under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) for another nine months, ie, from 30 June 2021 to 31 March 2022.
Under ABRY, the central government credits both the employees' and employers share (24 per cent of wages) or only the employees' share (12 per cent of wages), depending on the strength of EPFO registered establishments, for a period of two years.
This will help generate an additional 7.18 million jobs in the formal sector as against the earlier projection of 5.85 million jobs, a cabinet release stated.
As on 18 June 2021, benefit amounting to Rs902 crore has been given to 2.14 million beneficiaries through 79,577 establishments under ABRY.
The the scheme will involve an estimated expenditure of Rs22,098 crore, including the expenditure for the proposed extended period of registration of up to 31 March 2020.
This scheme is being implemented through Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) to reduce financial burden of the employers of various sectors/industries and to encourage them to hire more workers.
Under ABRY, establishments registered with EPFO and their new employees drawing monthly wage of less than Rs15,000 are being benefited if the establishment recruits new employees or those who lost their job between 1 March 2020 to 30 September 2020.
ABRY was announced as one of the measures under Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package to boost the economy and increase employment generation in the formal sector during post-pandemic recovery phase. This scheme will minimise the impact of the pandemic on the country's economy and ameliorate the hardship faced by low-paid workers, while providing incentive to employers for restarting and expanding business activities.