EPFO adds 16.82 lakh net subscribers in September

Of the total 16.82 lakh members added, around 9.34 lakh new members have come under the coverage of EPFO for the first time

Retirement fund body EPFO added 16.82 lakh subscribers on a net basis in September 2022, the labour ministry said in a release on Sunday.

Year-on-year comparison of payroll data reflects a 9.14 per cent increase in net membership addition in September, 2022 compared to the corresponding month during last year in 2021, the ministry said.

Around 2,861 new establishments have started complying under the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 ensuring social security cover to their employees.

The net enrolment during the month is 21.85 per cent higher than the monthly average recorded during the last fiscal, according to the provisional payroll data of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

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, the data showed.

Among the new members, highest number was registered for age group of 18-21 years with 2.94 lakh members. This was followed by age group of 21-25 years with 2.54 lakh members.

Approximately 58.75 per cent are from the age-group of 18-25 years.

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, the labour ministry said in a statement.

During the month, 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 previous PF account to the current account instead of opting for final settlement.

The payroll data indicates that number of members exiting from the coverage of EPFO have continuously declined during the past three months.

Month-on-month comparison shows that around 9.65 per cent lesser members have exited EPFO during the month of September, 2022 as compared to the previous month, it stated.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data indicates that enrolment of net female members has been 3.50 lakh in September, 2022. Year-on-year comparison of enrolment data shows that net membership of females in organized workforce has increased with a growth rate of 6.98 per cent in September, 2022 comparing with the net female membership during previous year in September, 2021.

Among the total new members joining EPFO during the month, enrolment of female workforce is recorded as 26.36 per cent.

State-wise payroll figures highlight that month-on-month growing trend in net member addition was observed in states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa etc.

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 per cent of total member addition during the month.

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

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

The previous data hence gets updated every month. From the month of April-2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period 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 net monthly payroll.

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