Enhancement of salary limit of Employees Provident Fund

Enhancement of salary limit of Employees Provident Fund is considering to Rs.15000..!

While answering to a question in Parliament, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shri Kodikunnil Suresh said that A proposal for enhancing the wage ceiling from Rs. 6500/- to Rs. 15000/- and reducing the threshold limit from 20 to 10 under the Employees Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 are under consideration of the Government.

A proposal for providing a minimum pension of Rs. 1000/- to member pensioners under Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 is also under consideration of the Government.

Source : CGEN.in
[http://centralgovernmentemployeesnews.in/2013/12/enhancement-of-salary-limit-of-employees-provident-fund/]

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EPFO Orders - Declaration of Productivity Linked Bonus (P.L. B.) for the year 2012-2013

Employees' Provident Fund Organisation

(Ministry of Labour & Employment, Govt. Of India)

No. WSU/12(1)12012-13/PLB/13048

Date: 09 Oct 2013

All Regional P.F. Commissioners
In-charge of the ROs/SROs
Regional P.F. Commissioner-I(ASD), Head Office

Sub: Declaration of Productivity Linked Bonus (P.L. B.) for the year 2012-2013.

Sir,
The Central Government, under Section 5D(7) of the Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 has conveyed its approval to the extension of the existing Productivity Linked Bonus Scheme 1998-2004 (Revised) for the year 2012-2013 vide their letter No A-26022/1/1994-SS.1 dated 07th October 2013.

2. Accordingly, the Central Provident Fund Commissioner is pleased to approve the payment of the Productivity Linked Bonus for the year 2012-2013 for 60(Sixty) days in  all the offices of EPFO. The bonus of 60 days has been assessed on the basis of Performance Report forwarded by the field offices in compliance to Head Office letter dated 09.09.2013. The payment of bonus is to be released before Puja Festival, to all Group 'C', 'D' and Group 'B' (Non-Gazetted) employees.

3. The terms and conditions governing payment of P.L.B. will be as per the instructions issued by the Government of India for payment of the bonus to the employees in Central Government departments from time to time. However, the quantum of bonus may be assessed as per the following formula circulated vide Govt. of India, Ministry of Finance O.M. No. 14(1) E.Co-ord.I/2004 dated 30.9.2004.

= (AVERAGE EMOLUMENTS) x (NUMBER OF DAYS OF BONUS) / 30.4 x (Average Number of days in a month)

4. The maximum amount of bonus will be restricted to the amount admissible to those drawing emoluments of Rs.3500/- per month. The bonus in respect of the employees drawing emoluments of more than Rs.3500/- per month will be calculated as if the emoluments were Rs.3,500/- per month.

5. The term ‘emoluments’ occurring in these orders will include Basic Pay, Personal Pay, Special Pay, Deputation (Duty) Allowance and Dearness Allowance, but will not include other Allowances, such as HRA, CCA Special Compensatory (Remote locality) Allowance, Bad Climate Allowance, Children Education Allowance and Interim Relief etc.

6. The expenditure incurred for payment of bonus may please be debited from the budget head ‘Productivity Linked Bonus.

Yours faithfully,

sd/-

(Sanjay Kumar)

Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer

Source : www.epfindia.com
http://www.epfindia.com/Circulars/Y2013-14/WSU_PLB_13048.pdf

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Streamlining Functioning of EPF Offices

Every Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) office in the country is equipped with Facilitation Centre to redress all kinds of grievances of the employees. Further, there is centrally web based grievance registration facility available under Employees’ Provident Fund Internet Grievance Monitoring System (EPFIGMS) to facilitate grievances of individual employee through internet. Besides, LokAdalats are conducted by each EPF office every month to redress grievances of the employees. The facility for checking EPF accounts is available on Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) website http://www.epfindia.gov.in in following ways:- (i) The updated balance in EPF account can be obtained by an EPFO member through SMS by furnishing his PF Account number and Mobile number by using “Know your EPF Balance” facility in EPFO website. (ii) Since April 2012, there is a facility for the employers to download the annual accounts slips for their employees from the accounting year 2010-2011 onwards. (iii) With effect from August 2012, there is a facility for members to get their e-pass book containing detailed statement of accounts on-line by using the “Member Portal” available on EPFO website. The EPFO website http://www.epfindia.gov.in is hosted in National Informatics Centre (NIC) server and is functional except only when NIC server is under routine maintenance. The Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge gave this information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. Source:pib

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Amendment in the Pension Scheme

Pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 is linked with pensionable service and pensionable salary. As per Section 6A of the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, contribution in Employees’ Pension Fund is mandated @ 8.33% of wages which is restricted upto wage ceiling of Rs.6500/- only. However, option is available to the member to contribute at the higher rate than the wage ceiling (i.e. Rs. 6500/-) which entitles him/her for a higher pension.

The Central Government had constituted an Expert Committee for revision of Pension. The Expert Committee submitted its report to the Central Government on 5th August, 2010 and the recommendations of the Committee were placed before the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund [CBT) EPF)] for consideration on 15th September, 2010. The CBT (EPF) directed that the report be first considered by the Pension Implementation Committee (PIC). The PIC has since finalized its report and sent it to Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation for placing before the CBT (EPF) for taking a final decision in the matter in its ensuing meeting.

The Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Kharge gave this information in reply to a written question the in Rajya Sabha today.

Source:pib

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People Covered under EPF and ESIC

The people covered under the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 during the last three years is given below:        Number of Members’ Accounts                                                (in lakhs) 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 470.72 587.86 615.89                 The details are given hereunder:                 i)   March, 2009                                125.69 lakhs                 ii)  March, 2010                               138.96 lakhs                 iii) March, 2011                               154.28 lakhs                                 Details of the number of companies and the total amount in default for the last three years are given below: Year Total number of establishments defaulted Amount in Default (Rs. in Crores) EPF ESIC EPF ESIC 2008-09 79,931 1,08,184 2,993.12 1,267.32 2009-10 79,059 1,32,087 2,923.14 1,309.00 2010-11 78,588 1,64,964 2,979.71 1,357.00                 The Union Labour & Employment Minister Shri Mallikarjun Khargegave this information in reply  to a written question in  Rajya Sabha today Source:pib

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PF guidelines for outbound Indian employees need some more clarity

Man has always faced economic uncertainties brought about by death, disability, unemployment, old age, etc. The concept of social security programmes evolved in most countries to provide a safeguard against such uncertainties, casting legal and social obligations in the hands of the employer.

However, such obligations become an additional burden for an employer having mobile employees as it not only compels the employer to comply with the laws of the land but also with the laws of the host country with no real benefits from contributions made in the host country. To overcome such a situation, nations sign a bilateral agreement, known as Social Security Agreement (SSA), which generally provides for equality of treatment and avoidance of double coverage.

Unlike social security schemes in developed countries, the Indian social security schemes per se are different in their operation and scope. In India, retirement benefit is linked with the contribution made by the employee, employer and accretion thereof; in the developed nations, the benefit is not linked to the amount of contribution made by a person.

Also, in India the benefit is mandatory only for employees with a base salary of 6,500 per month or less. Accordingly, in the past, foreign citizens coming on an assignment to/employment in India did not have to contribute mandatorily to the Indian social security scheme. But, Indian workers going abroad had to pay social security taxes in the host country. Most of these contributions could not be withdrawn when the Indian worker returned.

To overcome such anomaly, with effect from November 1, 2008, the ministry of labour and employment amended the provident fund (PF) scheme to extend its applicability to 'international workers' (IWs). In case of IWs, the PF contribution is payable without any cap on salary and de minims period of stay in India for its applicability. The contribution is payable on the total PF part of the salary earned irrespective of the place/currency of payment. This has created a lot of concerns for many MNCs deputing/seconding employees in India.

The silver lining in such provisions was the erstwhile relaxed withdrawal rules, which allowed international workers to withdraw the full provident fund balances (including accretions) at the time of their repatriation even if there was no social security agreement in place with their home countries. Hence, complying with such provisions was considered as a temporary blockage of funds. However, in about two years after the amendment, the following amendments were made to the PF scheme with effect from September 11, 2010.

1. Withdrawal from the PF account is permissible only on retirement from service after attainment of 58 years or retirement on account of permanent and total incapacity to work due to bodily or mental infirmity

2. Assignees covered under SSA can withdraw from PF/pension fund upon satisfying conditions specified in the SSA

3. No withdrawal from pension fund is permissible where IWs are seconded from a non-SSA country

4. Cap on salary ( 6,500 pm) up to which the employer's share of contribution has to be diverted to pension fund has been removed. As a result, 8.33% of salary subject to PF contribution is considered towards pension fund and balance 3.67% is considered towards the provident fund. This brings down the amount eligible for PF withdrawal in case of IWs from non-SSA countries

Courtesy:ET

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GET EPF DETAILS IN SMS

Know Your EPF Balance

(Service launched on 01/07/2011)

Please click on the following link to know the balance in your EPF Account upto the date, the accounts are updated, which also includes the latest approved transactions of settlement/advances/transfer-in/transfer-out, if any.

Select the EPFO office where your account is maintained and furnish your PF Account number.

Leave the extension field blank, in case your account does not have one.

You will be asked to enter your name and mobile number. The given mobile number will be recorded along with the PF Account Number.

On successful submission of above information, the details will be sent through SMS to the given mobile number.

Source:epfo

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EPFO- EMPLOYEES PROVIDENT FUND ORGANISATION trustees likely to fix rate of return at 8.5 %

EPFO trustees likely to fix rate of return at 8.5 per cent on September 4



EPFOCentral Board of TrusteesRetirement fund managerEmployees' Provident Fund Organisation



 Retirement fund manager EPFO's apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees, will meet on September 4 to decide on the interest rate for depositors for 2010-11, which is likely to be 8.5 per cent.



"The CBT headed by Union Labour Minister would meet on September 4, where trustees would take up the issue of fixing the interest rate for depositors for the current fiscal," an Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) source said.



Earlier, on April 9 this year, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) trustees had deferred a decision on interest rates following pressure from trade unions.



The employees' representatives demanded in the meeting to raise the rate of return on provident fund deposits to 9.5-10.5 per cent from 8.5 per cent.



The EPFO's key advisory body, the Finance and Investment Committee (FIC), had recommended an 8.5 per cent interest rate for 2010-11 — which the depositors have been getting for the past five years since 2005-06 — at meeting held on February 26 this year.



The FIC recommendations are usually accepted by the CBT. The committee had said that maintaining an 8.5 per cent interest rate would leave a surplus of Rs 15.26 crore.



FIC had also indicated that increasing the rate to 8.75 per cent for the next fiscal would result in a huge deficit of Rs 426.53 crore.



The employees' representatives, including Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) Secretary A D Nagpal and Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha (BMS) Secretary B N Rai, had expressed reservations about fixing the rate of return at 8.5 per cent for six years in a row.



They had argued that rate of return is decided after taking into account conservative advance income estimates for a financial year in the committee's meeting on February 26 this year.



They had also asked to place a statement showing the last five years' actual and projected income from the EPFO's huge corpus of Rs 2.57 lakh crore.



The EPFO has estimated an income of Rs 15,036 crore in 2010-11 and maintaining an 8.5 per cent interest rate for the next fiscal means an interest payout of Rs 15,020.80 crore and a surplus of Rs 15.26 crore. Maintaining a 9 per cent return would result in a deficit of over Rs 868 crore.



The retirement fund manager maintained an interest rate of 9.5 per cent for three consecutive financial years between 2002 and 2005. Prior to that, the EPFO provided a return of 11.25 per cent for 2001-02.



The EPFO maintained its highest rate of return of 12 per cent for more than a decade between 1989-90 and 1999-2000. Interestingly, when the EPFO started operations, it gave a return of just 3 per cent in 1953-54.

courtesy,ET

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