EPFO adds 16.82 lakh net subscribers in September, up 9% YoY

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Retirement fund body EPFO net added 16.82 lakh new subscribers in September 2022, registering a 9.14 per cent rise as compared to the year-ago period, according to data released by Ministry of Labour & Employment on November 20.

Additionally, the net enrolment during the month is 21.85 percent higher than the monthly average recorded during the last fiscal, it added.

The provisional payroll data of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) also highlighted that of the total members added during September, around 9.34 lakh have come under the ambit of the EPFO for the first time.

Out of the 9.34 lakh new members added, approximately 58.75 percent are from the age-group of 18-25 years.

This age-group signifies a crucial stage for an individual's potential in terms of earning capacity and joining organised workforce in large numbers following their education.

The data showed that during the month, approximately 7.49 lakh net members exited but rejoined EPFO by changing their jobs within the establishments covered by the EPFO and opted to transfer their funds from their previous PF account to the current account instead of submitting claims for final settlement.

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

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data showed that enrolment of net female members stood at 3.50 lakh in September 2022.

A year-on-year comparison of enrolment data shows that the net membership of females in organized workforce has increased with a growth rate of 6.98 percent in September 2022 compared 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.

A month-on-month growing trend in net member addition was observed in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, etc. 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 the total net payroll addition across all age groups.

As per the classification of industry-wise payroll data, mainly two categories -- 'expert services' (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies, small contractors, etc) and 'trading - commercial establishments' constituted 48.52 percent of total member additions 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.

The payroll data is provisional, as updating employee records is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month. From month of 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 rejoined as members are taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.

The EPFO's payroll is part of the organized sector workforce for those establishments which are covered under the provisions of the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

EPFO provides provident fund and 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.