Coronavirus | Government to pay employer, employee’s PF contribution for 3 months

As per recent declaration by the government, the employer, as well as employees, will not be required to contribute to the EPF or Employee Provident Fund. The 12 percent EPF from both the employee and the employer side will be deposited by the government for the upcoming 3 months. This declaration was made on Wednesday by Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister of India.

This particular move shall benefit about 4.8 crore employees that are a part of the organized sector in India. The government also announced the 1.70 lakh crore economic package that involves a range of benefits as the coronavirus pandemic takes over the country. The pandemic has evidently crippled the national as well as international economy along with the wages across different private and public sectors.

Ms Sitharaman also mentioned that this decision related to the PF contribution was taken to make sure that the EPF continuity by the employees or the employers isn’t lost in any way amid this crisis. This new move is applicable to the establishments that have as high as 100 employees of which 90 percent earn 15,000 or less per month.

The government also has plans to amend its regulations for schemes related to EPF withdrawal which allows them to draw as much as 75 percent of the EPF or 3 months’ salary in advance, where the lower amount would be considered.