The Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PM-VBRY), launched in August 2025, provides employment linked incentives for salaried workers from 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2027. According to reports from Mint and Zee News, the scheme has been allocated ₹99,446 crore to boost first-time employment and encourage employers. The welfare scheme, announced in Union Budget 2024-25, aims to provide "employment linked incentives" over a two-year period with incentives paid through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system to employees' Aadhaar seeded bank accounts. The main objective of the scheme is to create sustained additional employment, push formalisation of the workforce, and improve employability, especially for youth.
Part A of the scheme offers one-time incentives of up to ₹15,000 in two installments (each for a maximum of ₹7,500) to assist first-time employees earning up to ₹1 lakh per month. As reported by Mint and Zee News, the incentive is calculated based on one completed month EPF wage, capped at ₹15,000. For the first installment, the employer must complete six months of continuous employment with the prescribed amount of contributions and file Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) for six months. The first installment is paid after six months of service and is capped at ₹7,500. For the second installment, the employer must file 12 months of ECRs and the employee must complete the mandatory financial literacy course. This installment will be kept in a saving instrument or deposit account for a period yet to be specified.
Part B provides support to employers, incentivising creation of additional employment for two years, with manufacturing sector employers eligible for incentives for four years. According to Zee News, the scheme rewards employers for net additional job opportunities for up to two years, with establishments engaged in the manufacturing sector eligible for incentives for four years. Employers are eligible for up to ₹3,000 per month for two and four years respectively, for every eligible additional employee retained for at least six months. This component aims to encourage employers to generate and sustain employment opportunities.
To qualify for PM-VBRY benefits, employees must be first-time EPF-registered workers with a date of joining between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2027. As reported by Mint and Zee News, eligible employees must have not been contributing members of EPF either with EPFO or Exempted Trust prior to 1 August 2025, with their contribution received in EPFO or exempted trust for the first time for wage month August 2025 or thereafter. Additional requirements include completion of six months of employment in the same establishment, UAN activation and authentication through face authentication technology on the UMANG app, and a DBT enabled bank account. The ECR requirement for the second installment must be fulfilled within the first 18 months from the joining date.
