epfo members Archives - Lokmarg

The Labour Ministry is upgrading its IT systems to provide enhanced services to the country’s massive workforce.

Starting next year, EPFO subscribers will be able to withdraw their provident funds directly from ATMs, according to Labour Secretary Sumita Dawra.

We are settling claims quickly and are working to make the process easier to improve the ease of living. A claimant, beneficiary, or insured person will be able to access their claims conveniently through ATMs, with minimal human intervention,” the Labour Secretary said.

Systems are evolving, and every two to three months, you will notice significant improvements. I believe there will be a major enhancement by January 2025,” she told ANI.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has over 70 million active contributors.

The Labour Secretary also emphasised the government’s efforts to improve EPFO services to enhance the ease of living.

Regarding plans to extend social security benefits to gig workers, Dawra said progress was at an advanced stage but refrained from specifying a timeline.

“A lot of work has been done, and we have outlined a scheme that is now in the finalisation process,” she said. These benefits could include medical health coverage, provident funds, and financial support in cases of disability.

A committee comprising representatives from various stakeholders has been established to propose a framework for providing social security and welfare benefits to gig and platform workers.

Gig and platform workers were defined for the first time in the Code on Social Security, 2020, which was enacted by Parliament. Provisions related to their social security and welfare are included in the Code.

The Labour Secretary also addressed the unemployment issue, highlighting that the unemployment rate has declined.

“In 2017, the unemployment rate was six per cent. Today, it has decreased to 3.2 per cent,” she said.

“Furthermore, our workforce is growing. The Labour Force Participation Rate is increasing, and the Worker Participation Ratio, which indicates how many people are actually employed, has reached 58 per cent and continues to rise,” she added. (ANI)

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) provisional payroll data released on Sunday showed that the EPFO has added 16.82 lakh net subscribers in the month of September 2022, which is an increase of 9.14 percent in net membership as compared to the corresponding month during the last year, 2021.

As compared to the monthly average that was recorded during the last fiscal, the net enrolment during the month is 21.85 percent higher.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, around 2861 new establishments have started complying with the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 ensuring social security cover to their employees.

“Of the total 16.82 lakh members added during the month, around 9.34 lakh new members have come under the coverage of EPFO for the first time. Among the new members, the highest number was registered for the age group of 18-21 years with 2.94 lakh members. This was followed by the age group of 21-25 years with 2.54 lakh members,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Approximately 58.75 percent are from the age group of 18-25 years of age. This shows that first-time job seekers are joining organized sector workforce in large numbers following their education and new jobs in organized sector are largely going to the youth of the country,” it said.

In September 2022, approximately 7.49 lakh net members exited but rejoined EPFO by changing their jobs within the establishments covered by EPFO and opted to transfer their funds from the previous PF account to the current account instead of opting for final settlement.

The payroll data indicates that the number of members exiting from the coverage of EPFO has continuously declined during the past three months. A month-on-month comparison shows that around 9.65 percent lesser members have exited EPFO during the month of September 2022 as compared to the previous month,” it said.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data indicates that the enrolment of net female members has been 3.50 lakh in September 2022.

“A year-on-year comparison of enrolment data shows that net membership of females in the organized workforce has increased with a growth rate of 6.98 percent in September 2022 comparing with the net female membership during the previous year in September 2021. Among the total new members joining EPFO during the month, enrolment of the female workforce is recorded as 26.36 percent,” the ministry said.

The ministry said that the state-wise payroll figures highlight that a month-on-month growing trend in net member addition was observed in the States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and others.

“The states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat, and Delhi continue to remain in lead by adding approximately 11.41 lakh net members during the month, which is 67.85 percent of total net payroll addition across all age groups,” it said.

The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that mainly two categories i.e. ‘Expert services’ (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies, and small contractors, etc.) and ‘Trading-Commercial establishments’ constitute 48.52 percent of total member addition during the month.

“Comparing industry-wise data with that of the previous month, higher enrolments have been noticed in industries namely, ‘Banks other than Nationalised Banks’, ‘Textiles’, ‘General Insurance’, ‘Hotels’, ‘Hospitals’ etc,” it further said.

The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee records is a continuous process.

The previous data hence gets updated every month. From April 2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period from September 2017 onwards. In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO, and those who exited but rejoining as members, is taken to arrive at the net monthly payroll.

EPFO is India’s principal organization responsible for offering social security coverage to the organised sector workforce under the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. It offers a number of services to its members including a provident fund, pension benefits to the members on their retirement and family pension, and insurance benefits to their families in case of the untimely death of the member. (ANI)

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Employee Provident Fund Adds 16.8L Members In Sept 2022