EPFO adds 15.41 lakh net subscribers in September

Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Saturday said it added 15.41 lakh net subscribers in September 2021, reflecting a growing trend in net payroll additions post the second wave of the pandemic.

The net subscriber additions increased by 1.81 lakh during September as compared to the addition of 13.60 lakh net subscribers in the preceding month of August, the EPFO said in a statement.

The data reflects a growing trend in net payroll for the first six months of the current financial year except in May, when the nation was reeling under the second wave of COVID-19. Many states had imposed local lockdowns during the period which hit economic activities.

The EPFO had added 8,06,765 net subscribers in April, which decreased to 5,62,216 in May this year. The net enrolments rose to 9,71,244 in June and further to 12,30,696 in July.

Net additions during April-September this year stood at 64.72 lakh. The net new enrolments were at 77.08 lakh in full fiscal 2020-21 and 78.58 lakh in 2019-20.

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"Out of the total 15.41 lakh net subscribers, around 8.95 lakh new members have been registered under the provisions of EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the first time," the statement said.

About 6.46 lakh net subscribers exited but rejoined EPFO by changing jobs within the establishments covered under the purview of EPF & MP Act, 1952, thereby opting to continue their membership with EPFO by transferring their funds instead of opting for final withdrawal.

Age-wise comparison of payroll data showed that 22-25 years group registered highest number of net enrolments with 4.12 lakh additions during September 2021, followed by age-group of 18-21 years with around 3.18 lakh net enrolments.

"This indicates that many first-time job seekers are joining organised sector workforce in large numbers and have contributed around 47.39 per cent of total net subscriber additions in September 2021," it added.

Establishments in Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka added approximately 9.41 lakh subscribers during the month, around 61 per cent of the total net payroll addition across all age groups.

"Gender-wise analysis indicates that the net share of female enrolment during the month is around 3.27 lakh. Month on month comparison shows that the net addition of female subscribers has increased roughly by 0.60 lakh during in the month of September in comparison to the previous month of August 2021, when 2.67 lakh net subscribers were added into the payroll. This is largely due to lower female member exits during the month," EPFO said.

The expert services' category, which consists of manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors, among others, constituted 41.22 per cent of the total subscriber addition during the month.

"Apart from this, growing trend in net payroll additions has been noted in industries like trading-commercial establishments, engineering products, building and construction, textiles, garment making, hospitals and financing establishments," it said.

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

(With PTI inputs)

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