Despite New Tax Rule, Provident Fund Subscriptions Rise By Over A Third

Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (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 the PF body 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.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)