Net EPF subscriptions hit record 1.46 mn in July amid easing lockdowns

Net subscription to the employees' provident fund, taken as an indicator of formalisation of the economy, rose to a record high of 1.46 million in July this year. This was the time when lockdown was relaxed in some states. The data, also called net payroll data, was higher in each of the first four months of the current financial year than the average monthly figure of previous years.

The data was released for the first time in September, 2017. It should not be taken as an indicator of jobs in the economy as there is overlap between this data, that of Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and national payment system (NPS). Also, there are frequent changes in EPF data every month. For instance, the data last month showed that there was a net addition of 1.28 million subscribers to EPF, but the figure out on Monday revised it to 1.12 million.