Centre announces ₹3,737 crore bonus for 30 lakh govt employees
The government on Wednesday decided to give ₹3,737 crore bonus to 30.67 lakh central government employees to encourage spending during the festival season and add to demand in the economy.
The government on Wednesday (October 21) decided to give ₹3,737 crore bonus to 30.67 lakh central government employees to encourage spending during the festival season and add to demand in the economy.
The decision to give a productivity-linked bonus and non-productivity-linked bonus for 2019-2020 was taken at the Union Cabinet meeting, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
The bonus ahead of Vijayadashami and Diwali will encourage the middle-class to go out and spend and thus add to the demand in the economy, he said.
The bonus will be disbursed in a week’s time. According to NDTV, Javadekar said the money will be given in a single installment before Vijayadashami.
“Payment of Bonus to non-gazetted employees for their performance in the preceding year is usually made before Durga Puja/Dussehra season. The Government is announcing the Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) and ad hoc bonus for its non-gazetted employees to be disbursed immediately,” a press release said.
The Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) for the year 2019-2020, having financial implications of ₹2,791 crore, will benefit 16.97 lakh non-gazetted employees of commercial establishments like Railways, Posts, Defence, EPFO, ESIC, among others.
Non-PLB or ad-hoc Bonus, which is given to non-gazetted central government employees, will benefit 13.70 lakh staff. It will cost the exchequer ₹946 crore.
A total of 30.67 lakh employees would be benefited from the bonus announcement and the total financial implication will be ₹3,737 crore, the release said.
This comes in the backdrop of concerns over whether the bonus will be offered to employees this year amid an economic slump that was the result of the COVID-induced lockdown.
During the beginning of the lockdown, the Dearness Allowance (DA) was suspended for central government employees, while a segment portion of employees in various state governments had to forego a part of their salary.
(With inputs from agencies)