Retirement Benefits for EPFO Subscribers
Retirement fund body EPFO's subscribers will receive a loyalty-cum-life benefit of up to Rs. 50,000 upon retirement for contributing to the scheme for 20 years or more. The benefit will also be provided in case of permanent disability, even if the members have contributed for less than 20 years, the EPFO board has decided.
Minimum Sum Assured for Subscribers
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), has recommended a minimum sum assured of Rs. 2.5 lakh in the event of the death of a subscriber. "The CBT has recommended amending the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI) to provide for a minimum benefit of Rs. 2.5 lakh and a loyalty-cum-life benefit of up to Rs. 50,000 at a meeting held yesterday," a senior official said. "The suggested benefits will be available to members after government approval. Initially, these will be provided for two years on a pilot basis and will be reviewed thereafter."
Eligibility for Loyalty-Cum-Life Benefit
According to the proposal, the loyalty-cum-life benefit will be provided to all those members retiring at 58 or 60 years who have contributed to the scheme for 20 years or more. The benefit will also be provided in the case of permanent disability. In these cases, members who have contributed to the EDLI scheme for less than 20 years will be eligible.
Benefit Amount Based on Wages
Members whose average basic wages are up to Rs. 5,000 will receive a loyalty-cum-life benefit of Rs. 30,000. Similarly, members with wages of Rs. 5,001-10,000 will be eligible for a Rs. 40,000 benefit. All those members earning more than Rs. 10,000 monthly wage will be eligible for a Rs. 50,000 loyalty-cum-life benefit under the proposed scheme.
Rationale for Recommended Benefits
The board has recommended such benefits in view of a huge EDLI corpus of Rs. 18,119 crore following the addition of interest accrued on the investment of this fund. At present, the dependents of the deceased receive a sum assured of up to Rs. 6 lakh. There is no provision of minimum insurance and any benefit for surviving members or in cases of permanent disability under the scheme.
Launch of Aadhaar Seeding Application
Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya launched the Aadhaar Seeding Application after the meeting. The EPFO has developed this application with the support of Common Service Centres (CSCs) and C-DAC. The CSCs are ICT-enabled front-end service delivery points at the village level for the delivery of government and private services. With the implementation of the seeding application, a PF member or pensioner can now walk into any of the field offices of EPFO or CSC outlets with UAN and Aadhaar and seed them.
Enrollment of Workers
The EPFO enrolled 49,39,929 workers during January-March 2017. It had launched a special enrollment scheme to cover left-out formal sector workers from January 2017.
(This article was published on April 13, 2017)
Retirement fund body EPFO's subscribers will receive a loyalty-cum-life benefit of up to Rs. 50,000 upon retirement for contributing to the scheme for 20 years or more. The benefit will also be provided in case of permanent disability, even if the members have contributed for less than 20 years, the EPFO board has decided.
Minimum Sum Assured for Subscribers
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), has recommended a minimum sum assured of Rs. 2.5 lakh in the event of the death of a subscriber. "The CBT has recommended amending the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI) to provide for a minimum benefit of Rs. 2.5 lakh and a loyalty-cum-life benefit of up to Rs. 50,000 at a meeting held yesterday," a senior official said. "The suggested benefits will be available to members after government approval. Initially, these will be provided for two years on a pilot basis and will be reviewed thereafter."
Eligibility for Loyalty-Cum-Life Benefit
According to the proposal, the loyalty-cum-life benefit will be provided to all those members retiring at 58 or 60 years who have contributed to the scheme for 20 years or more. The benefit will also be provided in the case of permanent disability. In these cases, members who have contributed to the EDLI scheme for less than 20 years will be eligible.
Benefit Amount Based on Wages
Members whose average basic wages are up to Rs. 5,000 will receive a loyalty-cum-life benefit of Rs. 30,000. Similarly, members with wages of Rs. 5,001-10,000 will be eligible for a Rs. 40,000 benefit. All those members earning more than Rs. 10,000 monthly wage will be eligible for a Rs. 50,000 loyalty-cum-life benefit under the proposed scheme.
Rationale for Recommended Benefits
The board has recommended such benefits in view of a huge EDLI corpus of Rs. 18,119 crore following the addition of interest accrued on the investment of this fund. At present, the dependents of the deceased receive a sum assured of up to Rs. 6 lakh. There is no provision of minimum insurance and any benefit for surviving members or in cases of permanent disability under the scheme.
Launch of Aadhaar Seeding Application
Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya launched the Aadhaar Seeding Application after the meeting. The EPFO has developed this application with the support of Common Service Centres (CSCs) and C-DAC. The CSCs are ICT-enabled front-end service delivery points at the village level for the delivery of government and private services. With the implementation of the seeding application, a PF member or pensioner can now walk into any of the field offices of EPFO or CSC outlets with UAN and Aadhaar and seed them.
Enrollment of Workers
The EPFO enrolled 49,39,929 workers during January-March 2017. It had launched a special enrollment scheme to cover left-out formal sector workers from January 2017.
(This article was published on April 13, 2017)