The Union Cabinet on Wednesday has approved the earlier announced special Employees’ Provident Funds (EPF) scheme, Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana at an expenditure of Rs 1,584 crore for the ongoing fiscal, said Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar.
Under this scheme, the central government for two years will provide employee and employer contribution to the retirement fund for new employees hired by businesses and entities, said Gangwar. It would entail an outgo of Rs 22,810 crore till 2023 and benefit around 58.5 lakh employees.
If EPFO-registered employers add new employees compared to their reference base of employees as of September 2020, it would be covered under the scheme if they add a minimum of two employees if they have a reference base of 50 employees or less. In case, the reference base is more than 50 employees, establishments have to add five new employees to get covered under the scheme. If the new employees of a requisite number are recruited from 1 October 2020 to 30 June 2020, the establishment would be covered for the next two years. The new employees joining businesses and entities with monthly wages less than Rs 15,000 would be under the scheme.