EPFO to generate 16 mn net payrolls in FY24, says SBI Ecowrap report

More people might be sticking to current employment as number of members rejoining or resubscribing pension fund has declined, it says

The employee provident fund organisation (EPFO) is expected to generate 16 million net new payrolls in Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24), said State Bank of India (SBI) in a report on Tuesday.
 

EPFO generated 4.4 million net new payrolls in the first quarter (April-June) of FY24, of which fresh payrolls stood at 1.92 million, according to the report called Ecowrap.

Net new payroll consists of new payroll (fresh employment), second payroll (rejoined/ resubscribed members) and formalised payrolls (unorganised workers bought under formalisation).

“If we see the Q1 EPFO payroll data of FY24, the trend is quite encouraging. If this trend continues for the whole fiscal then in FY24, the net new payroll crosses the 16 million mark (highest-ever) with first payroll in the range of 7- 8 million,” said the report.

“Meanwhile, an interesting feature of the current EPFO data is the significant decline in revision of number of members who have rejoined or resubscribed in the first quarter of the current financial year. This would mean more people might be deciding to stick to their current employment,” it said.

India created 52 million formal jobs in the last four years, FY20-FY23, as EPFO added 48.6 million net new subscribers under employees provident fund (EPF) and 3.1 million new subscribers were added to the new pension system (NPS) in the same period.

Citing the 27 per cent share of women in the payroll data, the report recommended appointing bank sakhis, who are hired under National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), as banking correspondents to get more women in the labour force.

The government has been releasing employment related statistics in the formal sector since April 2018, covering the period September 2017 onwards. The data is based on the number of subscribers who have subscribed under three major schemes: the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme, and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).