80k cos dupe govt of Rs 300 cr in job scheme: Report

At least 80,000 companies have been found to have duped the government by availing financial incentives worth Rs 300 crore from the Centre's a flagship scheme Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY) meant to create jobs in the formal sector, according to a report by Business Standard.

The government has found that about nine lakh beneficiaries of PMRPY, launched in 2016, were ineligible for the scheme as they were part of the formal economy even before the inception of the scheme.

According to the report, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has blocked the Provident Fund accounts of these employees. It has, so far, also recovered Rs 222 crore from the employers concerned.

DH independently could not verify the report.

Under the scheme, the government pays full employers' contribution of 12 percent (towards EPF and Employees' Pension Scheme both), for a period of three years, in respect of new employees who have been registered with the EPFO on or after April 1, 2016, with salary up to Rs 15,000 per month.