EPFO adds 1.45 million net members in March 2025, up 1.15% year-on-year

Retirement fund body EPFO added 1.45 million net members during March 2025, registering an on-year increase of 1.15 per cent, according to the latest payroll data released on Wednesday.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) enrolled around 7.54 lakh new subscribers in March 2025, representing a 2.03 per cent increase over February 2025 and 0.98 per cent year-on-year growth compared to March 2024, a labour ministry statement said.

EPFO has released provisional payroll data for March 2025, revealing a net addition of 1.45 million members.

The year-on-year analysis reveals an increase of 1.15 per cent in net payroll additions compared to March 2024, the statement said.

This growth in new subscribers can be attributed to growing employment opportunities, increased awareness of employee benefits, and EPFO's successful outreach programmes, it stated.

As per the report, 4.45 lakh new subscribers were added in the 18-25 age group, constituting a significant 58.94 per cent of the total new subscribers added in March 2025. 

New subscribers in the 18-25 age group added in the month show an increase of 4.21 per cent compared to the previous month of February 2025. It also depicts a growth of 4.73 per cent from the previous year in March 2024.

Approximately 13.23 lakh members, who had exited earlier, rejoined the EPFO in March 2025, a 0.39 per cent increase over February 2025 and 12.17 per cent year-on-year growth compared to March 2024.

These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection, it stated.

Around 2.08 lakh new female subscribers joined EPFO in March 2025. It reflects an increase of 0.18 per cent compared to the previous month of February 2025. It also depicts year-on-year growth of 4.18 per cent, it stated.

Further, the net female payroll addition during the month under review stood at 2.92 lakh, with an on-year growth of 0.78 per cent, indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that the top five states/ UTs constitute around 59.67 per cent of net payroll addition, adding a total around 8.70 lakh net payroll during the month.

Of all the states, Maharashtra led the chart by adding 20.24 per cent of net payroll during the month, it stated.

The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net payroll during the month.

The payroll data is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee records is a continuous process.

From the month of April 2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September 2017 onwards.

In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but re-joined as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.