EPFO adds 1.39 crore new subscribers in last 2 fiscals

NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body added 1.39 crore new subscribers in last two financial years, the Ministry of Labour & Employment said on Monday. “Recently published provisional payroll data by the EPFO highlights the ever growing trend of increasing subscriber base for EPFO, since the collation of payroll data from September 2017,” the ministry said in a statement. The payroll data presents the consolidated annual figures for 2018-19 and 2019-20. Net addition to subscriber base rose from 61.12

lakh added in 2018-19 to 78.58

lakh in 2019-20, registering a 28 per cent growth, it added.

The data published comprises of all the new members who have joined during the month and whose contribution is received. The subscriber growth is on account of lower exits and higher rejoining by exited members, it explained. The tax-free returns of 8.5 per cent for 2019-20, which is one of the highest among other social security instruments and fixed deposits, has helped the EPFO reduce its exits for 2019-20 by around 10 per cent as compared with the previous year, it said.

Moreover, there has been a robust increase of around 75 per cent in terms of rejoining by the members exited from 43.78 lakh in 2018-19 to 78.15 lakh in 2019-20, it claimed. The autotransfer facility which enables hassle-free transfer of PF balance from the old account to the new account on change of job has played a big role in ensuring continuity of membership in many cases, it said.