By IANS,
New Delhi : After 48 years, the government Saturday widened the ambit for provident fund (PF) beneficiaries by reducing the threshold limit to 20 employees in case of co-operative bodies and 10 in respect of others.
The new decision means that a co-operative establishment with 20 or above workers will have to PF facility to them, while in other establishments, the benefit will be extended if the employees’ strength is 10 or above.
The decision was taken at the meeting of Central Board of Trustees (CBT)-Employees Provident Fund (EPF), chaired by Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes.
The high-powered meeting, however, deferred the decision on interest rate on EPF funds, currently at 8.5 percent, to be taken up in the next meeting.
For quite some time, there has been demand from political parties, particularly the Left parties, and employee’s bodies to hike interest rate to 9.5 percent.
“The CBD members unanimously agreed to reduce the threshold limit for coverage of establishment under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act (EPF&MP Act), 1952,” a ministry official said, who did not wish to be identified.
“The threshold limit will be reduced from 50 to 20 in respect of cooperative institutions working with out any aid of power and from 20 to 10 in respect of other establishments. This is for the first time in 48 years that the threshold limit has been changed,” an official press communiqué stated.
The social security benefits, provided under the Employees State Insurance Corp (ESIC) Act, are already applicable to the establishments having employment of 10 or above.
“Therefore, approval of the EPF Board will bring the parity with ESI Act with regard to coverage and will help in unifying social security efforts of the government,” the statement said.
The government administers the EPF&MP Act through the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) 1952.
As of March 31, 2006, there were about 444,000 establishments covered under the EPF&MP Act with a membership (employees) of about 430 million.