LIVE TV
All India
Recommended Stories
Bhubaneswar: Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) registered a growth of 24 % as far as new enrolments are concerned. As per the provisional payroll data of EPFO published on Saturday, the subscriber base saw a jump with the addition of 13.36 lakh net subscribers during the month of January, 2021.
Despite COVID-19 pandemic, EPFO added around 62.49 lakh subscribers during the current financial year. The data reflects growth of 24% for the month of January, 2021 over December, 2020.
As per an official PIB release, the year-on-year comparison of payroll data indicates an increase of 27.79% in net subscribers’ as compared to the corresponding period last year, indicating return to the pre-Covid levels of subscriber growth for EPFO.
Growing trend in EPFO payroll numbers and the accelerated expansion of the subscription base may partly be attributed to recent e-initiatives taken by EPFO for seamless and uninterrupted service delivery in addition to the policy support for formalization of the economy through ABRY, PMGKY and PMRPY schemes of Government of India, amid COVID -19 pandemic, the statement read.
Of the 13.36 lakh net subscribers added during the month of January 2021, around 8.20 lakh new members will receive the benefit of EPFO’s social security schemes for the first time. Around 5.16 lakh net subscribers exited and then rejoined EPFO indicating switching of jobs by the subscribers within the establishments covered by EPFO and subscribers choosing to retain membership by transferring funds rather than opting for final settlement. Members are now availing the facility of hassle-free auto-transfer of PF holdings from old PF account to the new PF account on change of job, which facilitates continuity of their membership with EPFO.
Net payroll addition data reflects that the number of members exiting EPFO has been declining continuously after the peaking in June 2020, during current financial year. This trend indicates that the adverse impact of COVID- 19 on members' exit from EPFO has gradually dissipated.
The data of exited members is based on the claims submitted by the individuals /establishments and the exit data uploaded by employers, whereas number of new subscribers is based on the Universal Account Number (UAN) generated in the system and have received non-zero subscription, the release added.
