ABRY has a long way to touch 5.85 million formal jobs: Report

Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY), a key employment scheme launched in November 2020 amid the pandemic, has a long way to reach its target of 5.85 million formal jobs by March 31, 2022, according to a report.

The Economic Times, quoting EPFO data, reported that the total number of jobs created till September this year under ABRY stood at 3.29 million, a year after the scheme was launched.

Government reimburses 24%

The funds disbursed under the scheme was Rs 1,845 crore, which accounts for only  8% of Rs 22,810 crore earmarked for the period till March 31, 2024. On the number of jobs, 2.56 million formal jobs need to be created before March 2022.

On jobs created, while 2.88 million are new employees 0.41 million are re-employed beneficiaries. The flagship scheme was initially announced from October 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, but was extended till March 31, 2022 after the second wave.

Under this scheme, the government reimburses 24%, 12% each for employees and employers for two years for all new formal jobs created in enterprises having up to 1,000 employees. The scheme is applicable for employees earning less than Rs 15,000 per month.

Workers who lost jobs during the period between March 1, and September 30 ,2020 but later got employed under EPFO-registered establishments after October 1, 2020 are eligible for benefits under the scheme.

For establishments having more than 1,000 workers, the reimbursement is restricted to 12% of the employees’ contribution.

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), India had 406.2 million workers till September 2021, which is 2.7 million short of the total workforce in 2019-20.