Scheme for Incentives to Industrial Units for Local Employment Generation

What is the Scheme for Incentives to Industrial Units for Local Employment Generation?

Scheme for Incentives to Industrial Units for Local Employment Generation is an industrial incentive of the Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Assam, listed by the Commissionerate of Industries and Commerce. The scheme answers a question that Assam has asked of investors for decades: a factory built in Assam should employ people of Assam, and the state is willing to pay for that outcome rather than merely ask for it.

The incentive is currently delivered through the employment generation clause of the Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam, 2019, whose Operational Guidelines of July 2019 carry the claim form, the checklist and the verification route. According to those guidelines, the incentive for employment generation and entrepreneurship sits at Clause 14.10(a) of the policy, and is claimed through Form 12.0 with the employee statement at Form 12.1 and the checklist at Form 12.2.

This is not a citizen benefit. The money goes to the industrial unit that created the job, not to the worker who holds it. A person looking for personal employment assistance in Assam should look instead at the Directorate of Employment and Craftsmen Training's own schemes.

How much is the local employment generation incentive?

The claim format in the 2019 Operational Guidelines requires the enquiry officer, after physically verifying the unit, to record three figures:

• Number of persons claimed as permanent by the unit
• Number of eligible permanent employees the officer accepts after checking the employee register
• Quantum of subsidy recommended at Rs 10,000 per person

So the incentive is computed at Rs 10,000 for each eligible permanent employee. A unit that claims 60 permanent employees but can substantiate 45 after verification is recommended for the 45, not the 60. The difference between the claimed and the verified number is where most of the money is lost, and it is lost on documentation rather than on policy.

There is no published flat ceiling for the total claim in the operational guidelines; the amount scales with the verified permanent headcount, and release is subject to budget availability.

What counts as local employment in Assam?

The 2019 policy sets an explicit floor that a unit must meet to draw incentives at all:

• Minimum 80 per cent people of Assam in the managerial cadre
• Minimum 90 per cent people of Assam in the non-managerial cadre

An Employment Certificate from the competent authority is required to establish this. The unit must also comply with existing labour laws on employment and wages. Both conditions are checked when the Eligibility Certificate is issued, which is the gateway to every incentive under the policy.

The competent authority differs by size of unit:

Form 12.1 goes further and asks, employee by employee, for the Employment Exchange registration number, the EPF number, the date of appointment, monthly salary, EPF and ESI contributions, and details of any skill upgradation training the unit paid for. A worker who was never registered with an employment exchange and never covered by EPF is difficult to defend as an eligible permanent employee.

Who can claim, and who cannot?

A unit can claim if:

• It is an industrial unit in Assam holding an Eligibility Certificate under the Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam, 2019.
• It is registered as a company, corporation, cooperative, partnership firm, proprietorship firm, trust, FPO or FPC, or is a unit set up by the State Government.
• It meets the 80 per cent managerial and 90 per cent non-managerial local employment thresholds and holds a valid Employment Certificate.
• The employees claimed have been working on a regular basis for more than 12 months and their statutory dues to EPF and ESI have been paid regularly.
• It applied for the Eligibility Certificate within 6 months of commencement of commercial production.

A unit or person is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• It is a Central Public Sector Undertaking. The 2019 policy expressly excludes CPSUs from every incentive.
• It has no Eligibility Certificate. Without it, no claim under the policy is entertained, however strong the employment record.
• It employs below the 80 per cent and 90 per cent local employment floors.
• The employees claimed are contractual, casual or under 12 months of regular service.
• It is an individual worker or job seeker. This scheme pays employers for jobs created; it does not pay individuals, and no personal application exists.
• EPF and ESI dues are unpaid for the claimed employees, since challans and matching bank statements are part of the mandatory checklist.

How to apply for the local employment generation incentive

1. Commence commercial production and record the date. Every timeline under the 2019 policy runs from this date.
2. Apply online for the Eligibility Certificate within 6 months of commencement of commercial production, attaching the list of employees based on the daily attendance register and the Employment Certificate from the District Employment Officer or the Director of Employment and Craftsmen Training as applicable.
3. Clear the Eligibility Certificate process. The General Manager of the District Industries and Commerce Centre forwards your application for scrutiny, fixes a date for physical verification, and places the agenda note before the District Level Committee for micro units or, through the Commissioner of Industries and Commerce, before the State Level Committee for all other units. The certificate appears on your online dashboard once approved.
4. File the employment generation claim separately online in Form 12.0, stating the date of commencement of production, the Eligibility Certificate number and date, the number of persons employed directly and indirectly, the number employed on a permanent basis, and total monthly salary.
5. Upload the checklist documents; Eligibility Certificate, Form 12.1 statement of employees and compensation, the Employment Certificate submitted earlier, EPF and ESI challans, the bank statement showing those payments, and a cancelled cheque.
6. Sign the declarations. Form 12.1 requires the unit to declare that the listed employees have been regular for more than 12 months, that statutory dues are paid, and that subsidy will be returned if any claimed employee is removed or dismissed within 12 months of receiving it.
7. Host the physical verification. The enquiry officer verifies Form 12.1 against the employee register, confirms the unit is functioning, and records the eligible headcount and the recommended subsidy at Rs 10,000 per person.
8. Await committee approval and DBT release. After the District or State Level Committee approves, a Statement of Approved Claims is generated online and funds are released to the unit's bank account in the chronological order of the committee date, as budget permits.

How do I check the status of an incentive claim?

The whole process under the 2019 policy runs on an online dashboard. The unit, the General Manager of the District Industries and Commerce Centre, the Commissioner of Industries and Commerce and, where State GST reimbursement is involved, the tax authorities all act on the same file online. Log in to the industries incentive portal linked from industriescom.assam.gov.in and open your unit's dashboard to see whether the application is at scrutiny, physical verification, front-end verification desk, agenda note, committee decision or release stage.

If the dashboard shows the application returned, it usually means a shortfall of documents was found and the file has gone back to the District Industries and Commerce Centre. Fix the shortfall there rather than filing a fresh claim.

Why local employment incentive claims get reduced

• Employees not verifiable in the register. The enquiry officer certifies only what the attendance and appointment records support.
• Less than 12 months of regular service for employees included in the claim.
• EPF or ESI challans missing, or challans not matched by a bank statement showing actual payment.
• No Employment Exchange registration number for employees listed in Form 12.1.
• Local employment thresholds not met, which affects the Eligibility Certificate itself and therefore all incentives.
• Eligibility Certificate applied for late, beyond 6 months from commencement of commercial production.
• Attrition inside 12 months, which triggers the refund undertaking.

Help and grievance redressal

• General Manager, District Industries and Commerce Centre of the district where the unit is located — the first authority for Eligibility Certificates and claims.
• Commissionerate of Industries and Commerce, Government of Assam at industriescom.assam.gov.in for units other than micro.
• Directorate of Employment and Craftsmen Training, Assam for the Employment Certificate for non-micro units, and the District Employment Officer for micro units.
• Assam Single Window / Ease of Doing Business helpline: 1800 345 3579, email eodb-assam@assam.gov.in.

There is no fee for filing an incentive claim, and the entire route from Eligibility Certificate to disbursement is designed to run online precisely so that intermediaries are unnecessary.