What can you expect from the upcoming EPFO board meet?

28 Jun 2022 , 10:04 AM

On July 8, the Employees Provident Fund Organization’s (EPFO) central board will meet. At this time, it is possible that the board will agree to create a separate pension plan specifically for gig workers and discuss the possibility of creating a universal pension plan to cover everyone who is not currently covered by the retirement fund.

It is being decided how to proceed with the recommendations of a committee on pension changes, and in a recent meeting, members of the central board of trustees (CBT) expressed a variety of opinions. A comprehensive note is likely to be brought to the central board, according to at least two officials with knowledge of the situation. Since March, numerous discussions have already taken place, some of which involve industry specialists.

After addressing EPFO’s organizational issues, “a separate system for offering PF and pension benefits may be developed,” said a government official who wished to remain anonymous.

More than 717,000 gig workers in India have been legally registered, and just West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar account for about 58 percent of them.

Such a provision has been called for by the social security legislation on labor, but in the past 1.5 years, little has changed. As merging the existing subscribers and gig employees may cause operational hitches owing to the nature of the duties both sides (formal workers and gigs) provide, an internal committee has recommended establishing a distinct plan for gig and platform workers, the official added.

When the board meets in the second week of July, “only just PF for gig workers, but instead a universal pension system for everybody,” according to a CBT member who also declined to be identified.

Undoubtedly, the agenda topics to be presented at the two-day board meeting scheduled to take place in Bangalore are still being finalized by the EPFO, which is under the control of the labor ministry.