A total of 12.9 million net formal jobs got created under EPFO in the last fiscal year, declining from 13.1 million in FY24, and 13.8 million in FY23 which was marked by high enrolments under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) scheme, showed revised annual payroll data. This translates into a year-on-year dip of 1.3% in FY25, and 5.1% in FY24.
Even the number of establishments remitting first Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) for a month stood at 52,309 in FY25, declining 6.6% from 56,023 establishments a year ago. The year 2023-24 however saw a slight rise from FY23 when 55,337 establishments remitted their first ECR.
EPFO did not respond to queries.
Officials termed the low net formal job creation last fiscal to the high base of FY23 as additional enrolment happened under ABRY between 2020 and 2022. The government had in October 2020 launched ABRY scheme to incentivise employers for creating new jobs and restoring loss of employment during the pandemic.
As of March 31, 2024, a total of ₹10,188.50 crore was disbursed under the scheme to 6.05 million beneficiaries through 152,000 establishments as against the original budgetary allocation of ₹23,000 crore.Experts, however, said the slowdown in formal job creation under EPFO does not corroborate with the high economic growth seen in the last two years. India’s GDP grew by 7.6% in FY23, 9.2% in FY24, and 6.5% in FY25.”Creation of formal jobs in the country is not keeping pace with the economic growth as the private sector is in a wait-and-watch mode due to geopolitical uncertainty,” an industry expert said, requesting not to be identified.
“Launch of ELI scheme is a clear indication of another attempt to incentivise the private sector to create more formal jobs, which in turn will ensure social security for more workers,” the person said.
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