Pradhanmantri Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY)

आत्मनिर्भर भारत रोज़गार योजना – Central Government has launched Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat 3.0 package. The Government announced Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) to boost the economy, incentivize employers, registered with EPFO, for the creation of employment opportunities for new employees, and re-employing persons from the low wage bracket who lost their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beneficiaries under Scheme

An employee drawing a monthly wage of less than Rs. 15000 per month who was not working in any EPFO registered establishment and did not have a Universal Account Number (UAN) prior to 01st October 2020 who joins employment in any establishment on or after 01.10.2020 up to 31.03.2022 and who is allotted Aadhaar validated UAN. Any EPF member, already allotted with UAN, who made exit from employment during the period from 01.03.2020 to 30.09.2020 (Covid Pandemic) from any establishment and who joins in any establishment on or after 01.10.2020 and up to 31.03.2022.

Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana Validity Period

Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana announced in 2020 was implemented through Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) to reduce the financial burden of the employers of various sectors/industries and to encourage them to hire more workers. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has recently announced to extend the Self-Reliant India Employment Scheme (ABRY) till 31 March 2022. The scheme started on 1st October 2020 and will now be open for registration of eligible employers and new employees till 31st March 2022. Earlier, the government has extended the scheme once more, the scheme was extended by the central government till 30 June 2021, but now due to the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, the scheme has been extended again till 31 March 2022.

Salient Features of Aatm Nirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana

प्रधानमंत्री आत्मनिर्भर रोजगार योजना की विशेषताएं – The salient features of the Aatm Nirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana are as under:-

1. Indian govt. is going to provide subsidy for 2 years in respect of new employees engaged on or after 1st October 2020 and up to 31st March 2022.

2. Government of India will pay both 12% employees contribution and 12% employers contribution i.e. 24% of wages towards EPF in respect of new employees in establishments employing up to 1000 employees for two years,

3. Union govt. of India will pay only employees to share of EPF contribution i.e. 12% of wages in respect of new employees in establishments employing more than 1000 employees for two years.

4. An employee drawing a monthly wage of less than Rs. 15000 who was not working in any establishment registered with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) before 1st October 2020 and did not have a Universal Account Number or EPF Member account number prior to 1st October 2020 will be eligible for the benefit,

5. Any EPF member possessing a Universal Account Number (UAN) drawing a monthly wage of less than Rs. 15000/- who made exit from employment during Covid pandemic from 01 March 2020 to 30 September 2020 and did not join employment in any EPF covered establishment up to 30 Sept 2020 will also be eligible to avail benefit,

6. EPFO will credit the contribution in Aadhaar seeded account of members in an electronic manner,

7. The EPFO shall develop software for the scheme and also develop a procedure that is transparent and accountable at their end.

8. EPFO shall work out modality to ensure that there is no overlapping of benefits provided under ABRY with any other scheme implemented by EPFO.

Eligibility for Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana Registration –

भारत रोजगार योजना की पात्रता – Check detailed eligibility criteria for Aatm Nirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana.

Eligibility criteria for Employees

1:Employers of the eligible establishments have to register their new employee during the period from 01.10.2020 to 31.03.2022.

2:The new employee should have an Aadhaar seeded Universal Account Number.

3:The benefit shall be paid for the wage months in which the new employee continues to be in employment in any eligible establishment subject to a maximum of 24 months from the date of registration as a new employee.

4:Any eligible new employee under this Scheme shall become ineligible if his/her monthly wage exceeds14999/- at any point of time during this scheme period.

5:Benefits were not available to any new employee who is a registered beneficiary under PMRPY / PMPRPY.

Eligibility criteria for Establishments

1:For establishments already registered with EPFO as of 30.09.2020.

Estts employing up to 50 employees have to add a minimum of 2 new employees and Estts employing more than 50 employees have to add a minimum of 5 new employees to the reference base and retain the number of employees in reference base on a month to month basis to be eligible for benefits.

Establishments must continue to employ at least two or five new employees, as the case may be, in addition to the number of employees on the cut-off date for availing assistance under this Scheme for any wage month.

2:For establishments registering with EPFO from 01.10.2020 to 31.03.2022

Since the reference base of employees is zero, the establishment is eligible even if one new employee joins.

If any such establishment registers voluntarily with less than 20 employees and continues to maintain less than 20 employees during the validity period of this Scheme, such establishment will not be allowed to exit from statutory Schemes under EPF & MP Act, 1952, and beneficiaries who received benefit shall not be allowed to make final withdrawals until the expiry of a period of two years after the validity period of this Scheme.

Procedure and Instructions for availing benefits under this Scheme

To implement ABRY, EPFO has deployed an electronic facility on the Employer’s portal

• The employer has to update Form 5A, disclose the reference base of employees through a link in the Employer’s login on EPFO Unified Portal to register under ABRY.
• Employer to obtain and verify declaration regarding previous membership from employees joining the establishment before registering such employee as “new employee” under ABRY.
• To avail benefits on a month-to-month basis, declaration & ECR in respect of all employees is to be filed by employers.
• The employer has to file one Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) in respect of all employees including new employees for each wage month within 60 days of the close of that wage month. However, the employer shall be liable for belated submission of ECR and consequent liability of interest due u/s 7Q.
• Any revision/correction/modification in such ECR is not allowed to claim any enhanced benefit at any future date.
• The employer shall not make any deduction towards the employee’s share of EPF contribution from the monthly wages of any new employee and disburse the wages without such deduction.
• Establishments working as contractors engaged in providing manpower to one or more principal employers shall not claim the benefit of employers’ share under this Scheme if the same is claimed or received from the principal employer.
• Employers and Establishments shall be responsible for the correctness of all particulars submitted for claiming ABRY benefit.

How does an employer of an eligible establishment benefit from this scheme?

Employer of eligible establishment is not required to pay his share of EPF and EPS contribution @ 12% of the monthly wage of new employees of his establishment provided a total number of employees in his establishment is up to one thousand (1000) in wage month of September 2020. So the employer saves this money. This also incentivizes employers of all eligible estts to retain all their new employees at higher take-home pay.

For ABRY, which was launched post the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, the Budget proposed increasing spending from Rs. 3,130 crore in BE 2021-2022 to Rs. 6,400 crore in BE 2022-2023. Under the scheme, the government pays the employees a share of EPF for new employees with a salary of under Rs. 15,000 a month.