EPFO adds 13.96 lakh net new members in Feb

Retirement fund body EPFO has recorded a net addition of 13.96 lakh new subscribers in February 2023. The provisional payroll data of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation released on Thursday highlighted that EPFO has added 13.96 lakh net members in February 2023.

Out of 13.96 lakh members added during the month, around 7.38 lakh new members have come under the ambit of EPFO for the first time, a labour ministry statement said.

Among the newly joined members, it stated, the highest enrolment is registered in the age group of 18-21 years with 2.17 lakh members, followed by the age group of 22-25 years with 1.91 lakh members.

The age group of 18-25 years constitutes 55.37 per cent of the total new members during the month. This indicates that the majority of the members joining the organised sector workforce of the country are first-time job seekers.

The data also highlights that approximately 10.15 lakh members re-joined EPFO membership, which rose by 8.59 per cent compared to the last year.

These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, extending their social security protection.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data reflects that enrolment of net female members has been 2.78 lakh in February 2023, which is around 19.93 per cent of the net member addition for the month.

Of these, 1.89 lakh female members are the new joinees. This is around 25.65 per cent addition of all the new joinees. In terms of female participation, the net female member addition and new female member addition have registered the highest proportion in the last four months. This indicates a growing trend of women's participation in the organised workforce, it stated.

State-wise payroll figures highlight that the month-on-month growing trend in net member addition is reflected in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal etc. In terms of net member addition, the top 5 states are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi.

These states together constitute 58.62 per cent of net member addition during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading the chart by adding 20.90 per cent of net members, followed by Tamil Nadu with 11.92 per cent.

The classification of industry-wise payroll data indicates that 'Expert Services' (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities etc.) constitutes 41.17 per cent of total member addition during the month. Comparing industry-wise data with that of the previous month, higher enrolments have been noticed in industries namely -- leather products, garment-making, establishments engaged in rendering courier services, fish processing and non-veg food preservation etc.

The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise. The previous data hence gets updated every month. Since April 2018, the EPFO has been releasing payroll data, covering the period from September 2017 onwards.

In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining the EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but re-joining as members, is taken to arrive at the net monthly payroll.

EPFO is a social security organisation responsible for providing social security benefits in the form of provident, pension and insurance funds to the organised workforce of the country covered under the provisions of the Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.