New Delhi, Nov 28 (FN Bureau) The formal employment outlook of the country covering the period September 2017 to September, 2021 shows that around 4.71 lakh crore new subscribers joined the Employees’ Provident Funds (EPF) scheme between September 2017 to September 2021. According to official data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Thursday, net new enrollments with the retirement fund body EPFO stood at 14.80 lakhs in August, up from 13.15 lakhs in July 2021. The Employees’ State Insurance Scheme added 5.70 lakh subscribers. Around 13.22 lakhs new members joined the ESI scheme in August this year as against 13.33 lakhs in July 2021.
Gross new enrollments with ESIC were 10.74 lakhs in April, 8.88 lakhs in May, 10.62 lakhs in June and 13.33 lakhs in July this year, the latest data showed. June and July figures show an increase in enrollments after the easing of COVID-induced restrictions by states post the second wave of the pandemic that hit the country in mid-April this year. The latest data shows 29.54 lakh new subscribers joined and contributed in the National Pension System (NPS) of the Central government, state governments and corporate schemes during September 2017-September 2021. Since April, 2018, the Ministry has been bringing out the employment related statistics in the formal sector covering the period September 2017 onwards, using information on the number of subscribers who have subscribed under three major schemes, namely the EPF, ESI and the NPS. The information is based on the number of subscribers and reflect a status for five sets of periods – from September 2017 to March 2018, from April 2018 to March 2019, from April 2019 to March 2020, from April 2020 to March 2021 and the monthly data from April 2021 onwards.