Employees Provident Fund Wage Ceiling Likely to be Hiked to Rs 21,000 From Rs 15,000: Report

New Delhi: Various media reports on Saturday suggested that the Centre is likely to increase the monthly wage ceiling of mandatory EPF soon and it will be hiked from Rs 15,000 to RS 21,000. The development comes as the discussion to raise monthly wage ceiling of mandatory Employees’ Provident Fund cover has been going on for a while now. Also Read – EPFO Begins to Credit 8.5% Interest For 2019-20, to Reflect in EPF Accounts From January 1

According to Zee Hindustan report, a meeting between officials of labour ministry and the representatives of corporate sector was held on Wednesday to discuss the matter. The Centre has not yet anything on the development. However, if all goes well, the EPF monthly wage ceiling will be increased soon. Also Read – 7th Pay Commission Latest News: Govt Says Employees’ PF Contribution Can go More Than Just 10%

Apparently, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has recently urged the Centre not to deduct PF of those persons whose monthly salary is Rs 15,000. As per updates, the union said the deduction as per Employees Provident Fund (EPF) should be done for those persons receiving Rs 21,000 as monthly salary. Earlier, the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh has also asked the government to make provisions of leave for different class of workers as per the nature of their job. Also Read – Lockdown 2.0: Govt Sets Up 20 Control Rooms to Address Wage-Related Issues, Migrants’ Plight

In January last year, the BMS had demanded an increase in the cap on earned leaves to 300 days, from the 240 days proposed in the new rules of labour codes. The labour union had raised the demand during the consultation meeting held by the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment on Tuesday on the draft rules on two labour codes — namely Social Security Code, and Occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions Code (OSH).

Once it is made reality, the EPF wage ceiling move could inflate the government’s annual Employees Pension Scheme (EPS) outflow by 50% to Rs 3,000 crore.