Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana — EPF Subsidy for New Hiring

ABRY is a government scheme where the Central Government pays EPF contributions (employee + employer share, totalling 24% of wages) for new employees earning below ₹15,000/month in EPFO-registered establishments. It was launched to encourage formal sector job creation during the post-COVID economic recovery period.

For establishments with fewer than 1,000 employees, the government pays both employee share (12%) and employer share (12%) — total 24% of wages. For establishments with 1,000 or more employees, only the employee share (12%) is subsidised. The subsidy is credited directly to the employee's EPF account for 2 years from the date of hiring.

The monthly wage must be below ₹15,000 to qualify for ABRY benefits. Wages include basic pay and dearness allowance (DA). If an employee's wages exceed ₹15,000 in any month, the subsidy is not applicable for that month. It is important to maintain accurate wage records and file ECR with correct figures.

The reference base is the number of employees for whom the establishment filed ECR for September 2020. Only employees hired above this base count as "new" for ABRY purposes. For establishments registered with EPFO after 30 September 2020, the reference base is zero, so all employees are eligible for the subsidy.

The registration window for new employees under ABRY closed on 31 March 2022. However, establishments that registered employees before this deadline continue to receive the 2-year subsidy until their individual employee's subsidy period expires. The government has announced successor schemes under the Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) framework in subsequent budgets.

No separate application is required. The scheme is ECR-driven — when you file your monthly ECR on the EPFO Unified Portal, you mark eligible employees for ABRY. The EPFO system automatically verifies eligibility (UAN status, wage limit, reference base) and processes the subsidy. Ensure Aadhaar is seeded to the employee's UAN before filing.

If an employee leaves the establishment before the 2-year subsidy period is complete, the subsidy stops for that employee from the month of exit. There is no clawback of subsidy already credited. The establishment can hire a replacement employee, but the replacement is only eligible if they meet all ABRY criteria and the registration was within the scheme's open window.

Contract workers can qualify if they are employed through a principal employer who is EPFO-registered, their wages are below ₹15,000/month, and they have a valid Aadhaar-seeded UAN. The key requirement is that the worker must be covered under the EPF & MP Act through an EPFO-registered establishment. Casual or daily-wage workers without EPF coverage are not eligible.