EPFO to appoint actuary firm for its pension and insurance schemes

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is in the process of appointing an actuary firm for the purpose of providing consultancy services to EPFO on matters related to various pension and insurance schemes that it administers.

The statutory body — under the Ministry of Labour & Employment — has issued a request for proposal (RFP) to appoint an actuary or an actuarial firm to study the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS)-1995 and suggest measures to enhance the benefits under the scheme keeping sustainability of the scheme intact.

“The appointed actuary/actuarial firm shall make projections on impact of various amendments/changes in the Employees’ Pension Scheme during the tenure of appointment,” the proposal said.

The approved consultant will be empanelled with the EPFO headquarters in New Delhi for a tenure of three years. 

The actuary firm will also carry out analysis of any new pension scheme of the EPFO during its tenure and it may include checking the long-term viability of the scheme or determining the long-term contribution rates among other things.

“The appointed actuary will also make projections of the impact of various amendments in the Employees’ Deposit-Linked Insurance (EDLI)- 76 Schemes like changing the criteria of giving benefits to the family members/ nominees/ dependents of an EDLI member from “death while in service (i.e. an employee who is a member)” to “death as an EPF member (member who has not withdrawn his EPF accumulations),” the proposal notes.

The actuary will also carry out annual valuation of EDLI Fund and study the impact of recent Supreme Court judgement on EPS-95.

SC earlier this month upheld the 2014 amendment to EPS, which caps the basic salary of an employee at Rs 15,000 a month for the pension component derived from it to be calculated. However, the apex court invalidated the other amendment of an additional contribution of 1.16 per cent by employees and gave six months for the authorities to generate funds or to make relevant changes to the scheme.