Provisional payroll of EPFO reveals, it has added around 10.11 lakh net subscribers in November last year

The provisional payroll of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) released on Wednesday revealed that it has added around 10.11 lakh net subscribers in November last year.

The provisional payroll of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) was released by the Ministry of Labour and Employment reveals. The ministry in a statement said, "Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, EPFO has added around 45.29 lakh net subscribers base in the current financial year. The published data comprises of members who have joined during the month and whose contribution has been received."

In November 2020, around 6.41 lakh new members have joined EPFO. Roughly 3.70 lakh net members exited and then rejoined EPFO, indicating switching of jobs by subscribers within the establishments covered by EPFO and subscribers choosing to retain their membership by transferring of funds rather than opting for final settlement. Exited members rejoining also indicate that workers are returning to their jobs with a decline in active Covid-19 cases in India.

The age-wise analysis indicates that during November 2020, the age-bracket of 22-25 has registered the highest growth in subscriber base with around 2.72 lakh net enrolments. This was followed by the 18-21 age-bracket with around 2.21 lakh net enrolments.

The 18-25 age-group members can be considered as fresh hands in the labour market and have contributed roughly 49 per cent of the new subscriber additions for November 2020.

The category-wise analysis of industry indicates 'expert services' category (which primarily includes manpower agencies, private security agencies and small contractors) continues to be the best performer by contributing a combined payroll of 23.45 lakh during the current financial year across all age groups.

This constitutes approximately 60 per cent of the net new payroll for the top ten industry categories for the same period. However, performance in other industry classification such as building and construction industry, engineers-engineering contractors; electrical, mechanical or general engineering products indicates that recovery has started picking up in other sectors as well.

Gender-wise analysis for November 2020 shows that the share of females in new enrolment has increased from 21.64 per cent in October 2020 to 22.40 per cent in November 2020. Out of a total of 6.41 lakh, net subscribers joined the EPF Scheme in November 2020, a total of 1.43 lakh were female workforce.