First-time workers who join an EPF-covered job can get up to Rs 15,000 under PM Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana, paid in two parts
Under the PM Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana, first-time employees earning up to Rs 1 lakh a month get a one-time incentive of one month's EPF wage, capped at Rs 15,000, after six and twelve months of service. EPFO has shared a stepwise guide, per reports.
The Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PM-VBRY) gives people who join their first job in an EPF-covered workplace a one-time payment of one month’s provident fund wage, up to Rs 15,000, if they earn up to Rs 1,00,000 a month. EPFO (the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, which runs provident fund for private-sector workers) has shared a stepwise guide on the scheme, according to a LatestLY report dated 21 October 2026.
The scheme covers jobs that start between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2027. The payment is made in two parts, after six months and after twelve months of continuous service, and the second part is linked to finishing a financial literacy programme.
Who is eligible
According to EPFO’s scheme page, the Ministry’s guidelines and the Ministry of Labour backgrounder:
- First-time members. The person must not have been a contributing EPF member, with EPFO or with an exempted private trust, before 1 August 2025. The first contribution must be for the wage month of August 2025 or later.
- Joining date. The job must start between 1 August 2025 and 31 July 2027, both dates included.
- Salary. Monthly pay up to Rs 1,00,000.
- Counting the first month. EPFO’s page says that if a person joins on or before the 5th of a month, that month counts as the first completed wage month. If they join after the 5th, the next month counts.
How much and when
The incentive equals one month’s EPF wage, capped at Rs 15,000. EPF wage is the pay on which provident fund contributions are calculated.
- First part: paid after six months of service. The Ministry’s scheme guidelines put it at up to Rs 7,500, calculated as half of the average EPF wage over six completed months.
- Second part: paid after twelve months of continuous service, once the employee has completed a financial literacy programme. Under the guidelines it is the average of twelve months’ EPF wage less the first part, with the total held to Rs 15,000.
The backgrounder says a portion of the incentive is put into a designated savings instrument, from which the employee can withdraw later. The guidelines say the second part is kept in such an instrument or deposit account for a period still to be specified. Payments go by Direct Benefit Transfer (money sent straight to the bank account) to an Aadhaar-linked bank account.
What the employee has to do
The backgrounder says incentives are available only after the employee’s Universal Account Number (UAN, the permanent number that identifies a provident fund member) has been authenticated through Face Authentication Technology on the UMANG app, a government services app.
The employer side
Employers receive up to Rs 3,000 a month for two years for each eligible additional employee kept for at least six months, per the backgrounder. For manufacturers the support extends to the third and fourth years. This does not change what the employee receives.
Scheme figures
The backgrounder, dated 1 August 2026, puts the scheme’s outlay at Rs 99,446 crore. It says over 72 lakh first-time employees have joined the formal workforce since August 2025 and more than 15 lakh beneficiaries have received incentives.
Basis of these figures
The EPFO stepwise guide reported by LatestLY could not be found or opened, so this article does not reproduce its steps. The scheme rules above come from the Ministry of Labour and Employment backgrounder published by PIB Research on 1 August 2026, EPFO’s PM-VBRY scheme page and the scheme guidelines hosted on that portal, all opened on 22 October 2026. The mention of the guide and its date rests on LatestLY alone. This article reports the scheme’s published rules and does not say whether any individual qualifies.