Lok Sabha Question No. 3621 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-15
Subject: Workforce Covered under EPFO
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Supriya Sadanand Sule, Heena Vijaykumar Gavit, Subhash Ramrao Bhamre

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3621 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15.07.2019

## WORKFORCE COVERED UNDER EPFO

3621. SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: DR. HEENA GAVIT: DR. SUBHASH RAMRAO BHAMRE:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)the number and percentage of employees out of total workforce of the country who are covered under Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO);
- (b)the  details  of  the  policy/guidelines  being  followed  for  opening  new
- offices of the EPFO in the country;
- (c)whether EPFO has made changes in the rules in respect of withdrawal for the subscribers who are unemployed, if so, the details thereof along with  the  benefits  that  the  unemployed  subscriber  gets  out  of  these changed rules; and
- (d)the  other  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  for  speedy disposal  of  the  pending  claims  under  EPF  along  with  achievements thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

- (a): As per section 1(3) of the Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, the  Act is applicable:
- i. to  every  establishment,  which  is  a  factory  engaged  in  any  industry specified in Schedule-I to the Act in which twenty or more persons are employed;  and
- ii. to  any  other  establishment  employing  twenty  or  more  persons  or class of such establishments which the  Central Government notifies in the Official Gazette.

Also  as  per  under  Section  1(4)  of  the  Act  with  consent  of  the employer  and  the  majority  of  employees  the  Act  may  be  applied  on  the establishment voluntarily.

There are 4.34 crore contributory members under Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)  in the month of May, 2019.

- (b): The  existing  policy  for  opening  of  offices  in  place  is  based  on  the norms prescribed by National Productivity Council which was approved by the Executive Committee of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) in the year 1999. The norms for deciding the opening of offices are further based on statistical data of workload, in terms  of  establishments  and  subscribers,  enforcement  parameters  i.e. coverage of establishments, defaulters and prosecution cases pending and lastly service parameters i.e., the workload of claims and claims settlements.
- (c): Paragraph 68HH has been inserted in the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 1952 to enable a member, who is no longer in employment for a continuous period of not less than one month, to avail upto 75% of amount standing to his credit in the provident fund.
- (d): The  following  steps  have  been  taken  for  speedy  settlement  of claims:-
- (i) EPFO has allotted a Universal Account Numbers (UAN) for consolidation/portability of accounts;
- (ii) A  single  page  Composite  Claim  Form  for  both  Aadhaar    &  NonAadhaar  has  been  introduced  by  replacing  the  erstwhile  multiple  Claim Forms No. 19, 10C and 31;
- (iii) The  process  of  settlement  has  been  simplified  and  certain  manual processes have been done away with.
- (iv) The entire payments to subscribers are made electronically through National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT). Similarly, the entire payments by employers are done electronically through Internet Banking (INB);
- (v) The services of EPFO for employees have also been integrated and offered  through  the  Unified  Mobile  Application  for  New-Age  Governance (UMANG)  Application,  a  Government  of  India  initiative.  The  application enables a member to access his passbook, track the status of the claim, submission of online claim form and digital life certificate by pensioners; and
- (vi) An  option  for  submission  of  claim  forms  through  online  mode  has been introduced.

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