EPFO witnesses 43% YoY rise in net subscribers; adds 1.83 mn in June

Retirement fund body EPFO added 18.36 lakh new subscribers in June 2022, registering 43 per cent rise as compared to the year-ago period, according to an official data.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had added 12.83 lakh net new subscribers in June 2021, the data showed.

The provisional payroll data of EPFO released on Saturday highlights that the organisation added 18.36 lakh net members in June 2022, a labour ministry statement said.

In June this year, the net member addition increased by 9.21 per cent as compared to May 2022.

Out of the total 18.36 lakh members added during the month, around 10.54 lakh new members have been covered under EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the first time.

New members joining has shown a growing trend since April 2022. Approximately 7.82 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 applying for final PF withdrawal.

The new enrolment during the month was higher than the monthly average recorded during the last fiscal year,it stated.

The payroll data shows that the age group of 22-25 years registered the highest number of net enrolments with 4.72 lakh additions during June 2022. This shows that many first-time job seekers are joining the organized sector workforce in large numbers.

State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi continue to remain in lead by adding approximately 12.61 lakh net members during the month, which is 68.66 per cent of the total net payroll addition across all age groups, it stated.

It showed that enrolment of net female members increased to 4.06 lakh in the month from 3.43 lakh during Ma, registering an increase of 18.37 per cent.

It is also observed that participation of female workforce in the organised sector has been the highest in last 12 months.

Accordingly, the percentage share of net female member addition increased from 20.37 per cent in May 2022 to 22.09 per cent in June.

As per the data, mainly two categories -- expert services' (consisting of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors etc.) and trading-commercial establishments'-- constitute 47.63 per cent of the total member addition during the month.

As compared to May, higher enrolments were noticed in industries like schools, garments making, expert services & textile etc.

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

The previous data hence gets updated every month. From April 2018, the EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards.

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

It is a social security organization that provides 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.