Net new enrolments with the EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) rose to 3.18 lakh in May from 1 lakh during April, the official data by the retirement fund body suggests. The latest data provides a glimpse into employment situation in the formal sector amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The body has also revised the official employment data for April to 1,00,825. The provisional employment data released by the EPFO last month showed the net new enrolments at around 1.33 lakh in April.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the net new enrolments with the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had dropped to 5.72 lakh in March 2020 from 10.21 lakh in February.
The EPFO has added 1.39 crore new subscribers in the previous two financial years. The net addition to the subscriber base surged from 61.12 lakh added in FY19 to 78.58 lakh in FY20, a 28 per cent growth.
The EPFO has been releasing the payroll data of new subscribers since April 2018, covering the period starting from September 2017. The data also showed that during September 2017-May 2020, the number of net new subscribers was around 1.59 crore. The estimates are net of the new members enrolled, members exited and rejoined during the month, as per records of EPFO.
As per the EPFO, the payroll data is provisional as updates in employees' records is a continuous process and get updated in subsequent months. The EPFO manages social security funds of workers in the organised/ semi-organised sector in India and has more than 6 crore active members.
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