16.5 Lakh Benefited Under Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana

According to Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Santosh Gangwar, approximately 16.5 lakh people have benefited from the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana (ABRY), which was launched in October 2020, to support recruiting in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Gangwar said, “As of March 9, 2021, 16.49 lakh employees were registered for the benefits (under ABRY).”

The scheme was implemented to promote the employment generation while also providing social security benefits and restoring job losses in the pandemic. The scheme, operated by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), reduces the financial load on employers from various sectors/industries and enables them to recruit more staff.

The Government of India is crediting the employees’ share (12% of wages) and the employers’ share (12% of wages) of contribution payable under the ABRY for a period of two years.

In another response on job creation, the minister stated that under the ABRY, approximately 16.5 lakh beneficiaries have registered themselves with the Scheme commenced on October 1, 2020. Out of the total, ~ 13.64 lakhs are new joiners with UAN (universal account number) registered on or after October 1, 2020, and ~ 2.86 lakhs are re-joiners who were rendered unemployed in the pandemic from March 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020 and re-joined on or after October 1, 2020.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), the Government of India has attributed both a 12% employer share and a 12% employee share under Employees Provident Fund (EPF), amounting 24% of the wage for the wage month of March to August 2020, for organizations with up to 100 executives, with 90% of such staff earning less than Rs. 15,000 (US$ 206.69).

Mr. Gangwar stated that the PMGKY scheme credited Rs. 2,567.66 crore (US$ 353.81 million) to the EPF accounts of 38.82 lakh eligible employees.

He stated that from April to December 2020, ~ 9.27 lakh female subscribers were added to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, 1.13 lakh female subscribers to the New Pension Scheme (NPS), and ~ 2.03 lakh female subscribers to the Employees’ State Insurance Scheme.

He added, “The number of pending (provident fund) claims is 15,351, representing 0.053% of the total of 2.91 crore claims settled between April 2020 and February 2021.” PF claim settlement is a dynamic process with claims being received and settled on a continuous basis. The time frame for full claim settlement is 20 days.

Source: IBEF