EPFO Proposes to raise PF Wage limit to Rs 25000/- per month

As per new Proposed Employees Provident Fund Amendment 2016 Employees with salary earning up to Rs.25,000 per month will be covered under Employees Provident Fund after the final approval

Refer:- http://streethr.blogspot.in/2016/12/epfo-takes-steps-to-cover-contract.html 

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has written to the Centre Government requesting to increase exciting PF wage ceiling to Rs.25,000 from Rs. 15,000 per month for its social security schemes raising the opportunity of more workers being added to the provident fund scheme.

All employees earning salary of up to Rs.25,000 per month will be eligible to receive provident fund coverage. At present, Employees Provident Fund is optional for workers earning more than Rs.15,000 per month since current wage limit fixed at Rs. 15,000

According to the minutes of the meeting of EPFO’s sub-committee on contract workers, held on November 7 stated 

“It was (unanimously) decided that a proposal should be sent immediately to the Central Government to increase the wage ceiling under EPF & MP Act, 1952 and Schemes framed thereunder to Rs 25,000 per month,”

Trade union leaders, who were a part of the EPF committee, argued that 

“even in the Seventh Pay Commission, the minimum wage was Rs.18,000 per month which might be further increased as the trade unions had been demanding a higher minimum wage of at least Rs.21,000-Rs.22,000.”

Hind Mazdoor Sabha’s A.D. Nagpal said,

“As the minimum wage itself had become more than the existing wage ceiling of Rs.15,000 per month for EPFO, it was high time that wage ceiling in EPFO be also increased,”

The previous wage ceiling was revised in September 2014 when the wage limit for PF coverage was increased from Rs.6,500 to Rs.15,000 per month.

Recently, the Labour Ministry had recently proposed to raise the wage limit for coverage of Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) from Rs.15,000 to Rs.21,000 per month allowing more workers to get health care benefits.

At present, around 3.7 crore active members are subscribed to EPFO out of which about three crore workers are those in the earning category of Rs 15,000 and below.