EPFO: Increasing the Number of Funds in Its Portfolio and Personnel
The organization that the present study focuses on, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, or EPFO, has not been exempted from these changes. As a result of this, there has been more firm and fund participation in the organization.
Out of 135 companies that have been exempted under Section 17, 27 have surrendered their status in the last two years: EPFO. Therefore, around 30 thousand employees and an amount of ₹ 1688.82 crore have come under the EPFO fold.
Why are companies choosing PF funds managed by EPFO?
EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organization) has brought forward this factor to the increased improvement in services, which has prompted organizations to surrender their exemptions. Today, many organizations raise their employee provident fund, or PF, to be managed by EPFO as the number of organizations joining EPFO rises.
This rids them of tasks that they can afford to outsource, freeing up most of their time and resources to attend to critical business. EPFO has focused particularly on early clearance of claims, enhancing the return on premiums, sound monitoring, and shifting most services online. These measures have tended to increase the credibility of EPFO among organizations as well as the employee fraternity.
Simplified Exemption Surrender Process
The EPFO, functioning under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has taken a lot of initiatives in recent years to establish the rules regarding exempted establishments under the EPFO Act.
Notably, SOPs and the manual on all regulations concerning the exempted EPFO employers have been made public for the first time. Also, to further increase the level of paperwork’s automation, a new software and portal for the exemption surrender will be launched soon.
1002: The PF Funds are being managed by the companies themselves.
As for managing the clients’ employees’ PF funds, these organizations are required to apply for an exemption under Section 17 of the EPFO Act. This let them handle their PF trusts without transferring monies to EPFO, thus saving on their cash outflows.
But they are bound to follow all the EPFO norms, and this makes the employers furious. The exempted company for managing PF was 1002 in India as of March 31, 2023, having an amount ₹3,52,000 crore for 31,20,323 employers.
