6.4 crore new subscribers joined EPF, ESI in over two years: NSO

Over 6.4 crore new subscribers joined EPF and ESI schemes between September 2017 and November 2019 and over 16 lakh new subscribers joined the National Pension Scheme during the period, the NSO said on Friday.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, released information on employment outlook of the country covering the period based on the administrative records available with selected government agencies to assess the progress in certain dimensions.

An official release said the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has been bringing out employment-related statistics in the formal sector from September 2017 using information on the number of subscribers who have subscribed under three major schemes - Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) Scheme and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).

The release titled 'Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective - November, 2019' gave the numbers of new subscribers under the three schemes.

It said 3,03,05,347 new subscribers joined the EPF scheme between September 2017 and November 2019 and 3,37,26,225 new subscribers joined the ESI scheme in the same period. The figure was 16,72,813 for NPS.

The release said that the report gives different perspectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employment at a holistic level.

The next report is due for release on February 25.

Opposition parties have been alleging that unemployment under Modi government has been worse in the last four decades.