EPFO adds 1.39 crore subscribers in past two financial years
Jun 22, 2020
New Delhi [India], June 22 : The net addition to subscriber base of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) rose from 61.12 lakh in 2018-19 to 78.58 lakh in 2019-20, marking a growth of 28 per cent, the government said on Monday.
The subscriber growth is on account of lower exits and higher rejoining by exited members, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
The tax-free returns of 8.5 per cent for 2019-20, which is one of the highest among other social security instruments and fixed deposits, has helped EPFO reduce its exits for 2019-20 by around 10 per cent as compared with the previous year.
Moreover, there has been a robust increase of about 75 per cent in terms of rejoining by the members exited from 43.78 lakh in 2018-19 to 78.15 lakh in 2019-20.
"The auto-transfer facility which enables hassle-free transfer of provident fund balance from the old account to the new account on change of job has played a big role in ensuring continuity of membership in many cases," the ministry said in the statement.
Age-wise analysis during 2019-20 indicates that for the age group 26 to 28, 29 to 35 and beyond 35 the net enrolment increased by more than 50 per cent compared to the previous year.
Besides, enrollment of female workers has gone up by around 22 per cent during 2019-20 compared to previous years which indicates greater female participation in the formal workforce.
A total of 1.13 lakh new establishments started compliance for the first time during 2018-19 and 2019-10. Simplification of compliance process enabling establishments to obtain PF code easily through portal and facility of filing electronic challan-cum-return online has promoted voluntary compliance by establishments.
Category-wise analysis of industry indicates that hospitals and financing establishments have shown more than 50 per cent growth while trading and commercial establishments, textiles and establishments providing cleaning and sweeping services have all grown at greater than 20 per cent in terms of net enrollment.
