Employee Provident Fund in India

Employee Provident Fund [also know as EPF] is one of the main platforms of savings in India for nearly all people working in Government & Public sector  Organizations. It is important for every working individual to understand the importance of EPF and how it can benefit him or her.

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), is a statutory body of the Indian Government under Labour and Employment Ministry. It administers a compulsory contributory Provident fund, pension and an insurance scheme for Indian Work force. It is one of the largest social security organisations in the world in terms of members and volume of financial transactions undertaken [source: Wikipedia]

It is mandatory for every organization who have more than 20 employees on the payroll. If you are working in an organization who have more than 20 employees, and the employer is not giving you EPF benefit, you can official complaint to EPF organization.

Employee Provident Fund Benefits

EPF scheme benefits employees in following essential needs:

• Retirement
• Medical Care
• Housing
• Family obligation
• Education of Children
• Financing of Insurance Polices

How EPF works?

Under the EPF Scheme both the employees and employer contribute equally to the Employee Provident fund at the rate of 12% of the basic wages, dearness allowance and retaining allowance, if any, payable to employees per month.

The rate of is fixed at 10% in the case of following establishments:

• Any establishment with less then 20 employees.

• Any sick industrial company and which has been declared as such by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction

• Any establishment which has at the end of any financial year accumulated losses equal to or exceeding its entire net worth and

• Any establishment engaged in manufacturing of  (a) jute  (b) Breed  (d) coir  and  (e)  Guar gum Industries/ Factories.

How to withdraw EPF accruals?

A member can withdraw upto 90% of the amount of provident fund at credit after attaining the age of 54 years of age or within one year before actual retirement on superannuation whichever is later. EPF form 19 needs to be downloaded, filled and duly submitted to the concerned Provident Fund Office.

You can access entire EPF Acts at official EPF site:

1. Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952
2. Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976
3. Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (replacing the Employees’ Family Pension Scheme, 1971)

If you have any questions regarding Employee Provident Fund, please do not hesitate to let us know  – We would be glad to answer your questions.

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