7th Pay Commission – Employees Provident Fund may be raised to Rs 25,000.
Under the 7th Pay Commission minimum wage
ceiling the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is likely to raise to Rs
25,000 from the existing Rs 15,000. The
proposal drafted by Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will
be sent to the Union Government which is likely to be approved, the
report suggests. The decision has been
taken by the members of Sub-committee of the Central Board of Trustees,
EPFO – the highest decision-making body – on contract workers held on
November 7.
According to reports, the EPFO has proposed a
hike in the wage limit of all employees drawing basic salary Rs 25,000
would have to contribute to the provident fund. However, those
government employees drawing above that limit will have the option to
become a member of the provident fund and can have an option to select
or reject if they want to.
The move taken by the EPFO comes in the wake
of changes in the wage structure in accordance with the proposal of the
7th Pay Commission. Most of the trade union representatives at the CBT
sub-committee meeting noting that the minimum wage of the Central
government employees after implementation of the 7th Pay Commission
report has been hiked to Rs 18,000, due to which the EPFO’s wage ceiling
of Rs 15,000 needs to be altered.
The CBT pointed out that there could be a
further increase in minimum wages from Rs 18,000 is likely with the
trade unions demanding minimum wage to be increased at least Rs 21,000
to Rs 22,000.
In fact, the Employees’ Deposit Linked
Insurance Scheme (EDLI) is directly linked to the minimum wage ceiling.
At present, If an employee is earning up to Rs 15,000 he or she can
avail of benefits under the Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme
(EDLI). The scheme provides life insurance of up to Rs 6 lakhs.
Source: FE
