EPFO adds 1.7 mn net subscribers in April, an increase of 35% YoY

Retirement fund body EPFO has added 17.08 lakh net new subscribers in April 2022, nearly 34 per cent more than 12.76 lakh enrolled in the same month a year ago.

The provisional payroll data of EPFO released on Monday highlighted that Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has added 17.08 lakh net subscribers in the month of April 2022, a labour ministry statement said.

According to the statement, a year-on-year comparison of payroll data shows an increase of 4.32 lakh net subscribers in April 2022 compared to the net subscription in the same month last year.

Thus, the net new subscribers were 12.76 lakh in April 2021.

The data showed that the net new subscribers addition increased to 1.22 crore in 2021-22 from 77.08 lakh in 2020-21, 78.58 lakh in 2019-20 and 61.12 lakh in 2018-19.

Out of the total 17.08 lakh subscribers added during the month of April, around 9.23 lakh new members have come under the social security cover of EPF and MP Act, 1952, for the first time.

About 7.85 lakh net subscribers exited and re-joined the establishments covered under the EPFO by changing their jobs within the establishments covered by EPFO and opted to retain membership under the scheme through the transfer of funds rather than coming for the final withdrawal of their PF accumulations.

The payroll data reflects a declining trend of members' exit during the last four months, the statement said.

Age-wise comparison of payroll data indicates that the age group of 22-25 years has registered the highest number of net enrolments, with 4.30 lakh additions during April 2022. This is followed by the age group of 29-35 years with a healthy addition of 3.74 lakh net additions during the month.

In a nutshell, these two age groups constitute around 47.07 per cent of net subscribers additions during the month. The age group of 29-35 years can be considered as experienced workers, who have changed jobs for career growth and opted to be with the EPFO.

State-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Gujarat and Delhi remained in the lead by adding approximately 11.60 lakh net subscribers during the month, which is 67.91 per cent of the total net payroll addition across all age groups.

Gender-wise analysis indicates that net female payroll addition is approximately 3.65 lakh during the month.

The share of female enrolment is 21.38 per cent of the total net subscriber addition during April 2022, with an increase of 17,187 net enrolments over the previous month.

The net enrollment of the female workforce in the organised sector has shown a growing trend for the last six months.

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 48.25 per cent of total subscriber addition during the month.

Apart from this, a growing trend has been noted in other industries like 'electrical, mechanical or general engineering products, marketing servicing, usage of computers, building and construction industry, textile, garment making, financial establishments, hospitals and schools during the month.

The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as the updation of employee records is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month.

Since April 2018, the EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards.

The EPFO is a social security organisation responsible for providing a number of benefits to the members covered under the statute of EPF & MP Act, 1952.

It provides a provident fund, 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.