Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) provisional data shows at least 12.37 lakh net subscribers have been added in February, 2021. EPFO has added around 69.58 lakh net subscribers during the current financial year despite the covid pandemic, the labour and employment ministry said. 

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According to an official statement of the ministry, “The data reflects the growth of over three and a half per cent in net subscribers in February, 2021 over January, 2021. Year-on-year data indicates a rise of over 19 per cent in net subscribers as compared to the corresponding period in February 2020.” 

The ministry stated that the growth may partly be attributed to various e-initiatives taken by EPFO for seamless and uninterrupted service delivery in addition to the policy support for formalization of the economy through ABRY, PMGKY, and PMRPY schemes of the government, amid pandemic. 

Of the 12.37 lakh net subscribers, around 7.56 lakh new members have come into the social security ambit of EPFO for the first time.  

Similarly, around 4.81 lakh net subscribers exited and then rejoined EPFO by switching their jobs within the establishments covered by EPFO and choosing to retain membership through the transfer of funds rather than opting for final settlement. 

The data of exited members is based on the claims submitted by the individuals/establishments and the exit data uploaded by employers, whereas the number of new subscribers is based on the Universal Account Number (UAN) generated in the system and has received a non-zero subscription. 

Age-wise analysis indicates that the age bracket of 22-25 has registered the highest number of net enrollments with around 3.29 lakh net subscribers addition. Followed by the 29-35 age group with around 2.51 lakh net enrollments. This age group can be considered as experienced workers who changed jobs for career growth and opted to be with EPFO. 

Category-wise analysis of industries reflects the dominance of ‘expert services’ category with overall additions of 4.99 lakh net payroll additions in February 2021, followed by ‘Trading-commercial establishments’ category, contributing around 84,000 subscribers, the statement reads. 

Pan India comparison shows that states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka are in forefront of net payroll addition. These five states contributed over 54 per cent of the total net subscribers additions across all the age-groups by adding 38.14 lakh net subscriber in FY22. 

The gender-wise analysis reflects the addition of around 2.60 lakh net female subscribers in February 2021 which is 21 per cent of the total net addition during the month. The month-on-month comparison indicates an increase of over 12 per cent as against January 2020.