Clubbing of wages for PF to dampen investment sentiment: Ficci

Clubbing of wages for PF to dampen investment sentiment: Ficci

Industry body Ficci on Tuesday opposed any move to club allowances with the basic wages for PF deductions stating besides increasing financial burden on it and government, it will "dampen" investment sentiments.

"The proposal to renotify definition of 'basic wages' under the Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952, has huge financial implications both for industry and the government", the industry body said in a statement.

"The move is ill-conceived and if brought into force will dampen business and investment sentiments," it said. "This may even be counterproductive to the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) as organizations who are extending coverage to employees receiving salaries above Rs 6,500 may choose to opt out, depriving employees coverage under a globally renowned social security scheme," Ficci said.

According to the provisions of EPF scheme 1952, every employer has to contribute 12 percent of the basic pay and dearness allowance towards the PF deposits of workers every month. Thus with increase in basic wages, the employers' liability would increase.

Out of employers' 12 percent contribution, 8.33 percent is deposited into workers' Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 accounts.

Central Government also contributes 1.16 percent of the basic wages of workers toward their pension account. Therefore, the decision would also result in higher contribution by the central government towards workers' pension accounts.

At present, there are over 50 million subscribers of the scheme. EPFO has a corpus of over Rs 5 lakh crores in EPF and EPS schemes. As per the notification issued by the EPFO on November 30 last year, all allowance which are 'Ordinarily, Necessarily and Uniformly' paid to workers were to be clubbed with basic wages for the purpose of PF deductions.

However, the notification was put on hold later on. EPFO had constituted a committee comprising unionist and employers to deliberate on the issue. The panel had reportedly suggested allowing clubbing of wages with minor changes in the provisions to Labour Ministry. The final decision to notify the clubbing of wages, has not taken so far by the ministry.

The body feels that the introduction of a triple test-'Ordinarily, Necessarily and Uniformly'- for the purposes of defining basic wages will arm the field staff to use their discretion to put additional burden on employers.

EPFO bid to rejig Provident Fund may hit finance ministry wall

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) proposal to club allowances with basic salary to calculate provident fund contribution could face a finance ministry roadblock. 

While clubbing various allowances can more than double the basic pay for a large section of employees, it will also increase the budgetary provisions for the EPF pension component to over R2,800 crore annually from R1,400 crore last fiscal, a labour ministry official told FE. 

At present, employees contribute 12% of their basic salary to the EPF, while the employer contribute 3.67% to EPF, 8.33% to employees pension scheme (EPS) and 0.5% to employees deposit link insurance scheme (EDLI). The government contributes 1.16% of the employee's basic salary to the EPS scheme. 
The finance ministry, which has not yet cleared a proposal of raising the minimum pension to R1,000 a month from the present R540 on the anticipation of an extra burden of R600 crore, is in no mood to approve the demand for re-defining compensation in this context to include all allowances apart from basic salary, which would raise its pension liability, even as the rate of contribution remains the same. 

The hike in basic salary may also not bode well with the EPFO as its pension liability will increase at a time when EPS scheme stares at a actuarial deficit of over R50,000 crore.

What the labour and finance ministries could agree to is to allow deduction of PF on the full compensation up to the minimum wage limit of R3,500 a month, without any splitting. This could result in a small increase in government pension liability, the official said. This will prevent companies from splitting minimum wages for evading PF payment. To curb firms from splitting wages into a multitude of allowances and commissions to evade PF contribution, the EPFO issued a circular last year that stipulated clubbing allowances paid "ordinarily, necessarily and uniformly" with the basic salary for calculating the provident fund contribution. But it created a furore as it implied a substantial reduction in take-home salary albeit the PF contribution would have gone up and the labour ministry later had to put the circular in abeyance. The ministry constituted a committee comprising EPFO officials, representative from trade unions and employers association to resolve the matter. The committee's report, which favoured the clubbing of allowances, was recently sent to the labour ministry for final vetting, sources said. 

Industry lobbies CII and FICCI have opposed the move as the rule change could raise the financial burden for the government and private companies. A hike in basic salary means the employers' contribution to EPF also goes up. Since, many companies are wary of changing the cost to the company (CTC), for the employees, the take-home amounts could come down. In case of public sector, the hike in basic salary means extra contribution from the employer -- which is either government or a PSU. 

"Organizations that are extending EPF coverage to employees receiving salaries above the mandatory EPF threshold of R 6,500 may choose to opt out, depriving the employees coverage under a globally renowned social security scheme. Most of the employees today join an organization above this statutory limit and they are voluntarily covered by the industry," said Ficci president Naina Lal Kidwai. 

While admitting the financial implication, All India Trade Union Congress national secretary DL Sachdev said the original demand was to amend the Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Act to prevent splitting of minimum wages and paying PF on the entire minimum wages. Even that has been pending with the finance ministry, along with the proposal to raise the limit of basic salary to R15,000 from R6,500 for mandatory EPF coverage. 

A sudden jump in salary cost would only crimp the profit margin of India Inc ,already reeling under the worst slowdown in a decade. A lower take-home salary will also slash consumer demand and delay an early industrial recovery.

Functioning of EPFO

Functioning of EPFO

As on 31.03.2012, the total members of Employees’ Provident Fund are 8.55 crore and pensioners under Employees’ Pensions Scheme are 41.03 Lakh. The present composition of Central Board of Trustees (CBT), Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is Annexed. The composition of the CBT, EPF is as per Section 5A of the Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. As per clause (e) of sub-section (1) of Section 5A of the Employees’ Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions  Act, 1952, ten persons representing employees in the establishments to which the Scheme applies, appointed by the Central Government after consultation with such organisations of employees as may be recognized by the Central Government in this behalf. The Employees and Employers contribute 12% and 3.67% of wages respectively, to the Provident Fund. In addition, the employers and Central Government contribute 8.33% and 1.16% of wages respectively, to the Pension Fund.   As per audited Balance Sheet of EPFO for the year 2011-12, total balance amount as on 31.03.2012 under the Employees’ Pension Scheme(EPS), 1995 is Rs.162980.03 Crore. As per latest figure (unreconciled), the balance in EPS, 95 as on 31.03.2013 is Rs.183,405.36 Crore, (on face value of securities), details of which are as follows: S.No. Category Amount (Rs. In Crore) 1. Central Government Securities   43,475.28 2. State Government Securities   21,690.92 3. Government Guaranteed Securities     4,640.30 4. Special Deposit Scheme     1,400.52 5. Public Account   63,593.44 6. Public Sector   39,255.64 7. Private Sector     9,349.26 Total 183,405.36 The interest accrued thereon during the last three years and current year is as under:- Year           Interest amount (Rs. In Crore) 2009-10                            9,532.34 2010-11                          10,888.49 2011-12                          13,315.80 2012-13                          14,416.65 (unaudited) This information was given by Minister of State for Labour & Employment Shri  Kodikunnil Suresh in the Lok  Sabha today in reply to a written question. ******                                                               List of Members of the CBT (EPF) as on date (a) Appointed under clause (a) of Sub-section (1) of Section 5A. 1.         CHAIRMAN Union Minister for Labour & Employment 2.         VICE-CHAIRMAN Minister of State for Labour & Employment (b) Representatives of the Central Government under clause (b) of sub- section (1) of Section 5-A (Member) 3.         Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India 4.         Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India 5.         Joint Secretary, Social Security, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India 6.         Representative from the Ministry of Finance, Government of India 7.         Financial Advisor, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India (c) Representatives of State Governments under clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 5A State Government Representatives (Member). 8.         Secretary to the Government of Andhra Pradesh, Labour & Employment Department. 9.         Secretary to the Government of Assam, Labour & Employment Department. 10.      Secretary to the Government of Bihar, D/o Labour & Employment. 11.      Secretary to the Government of Gujarat, Labour & Employment Department. 12.      Secretary to the Government of Haryana, Labour & Employment Department. 13.      Secretary to the Government of Karnataka, Labour Department. 14.      Principal Secretary to the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Labour Department. 15.      Secretary to the Government of Maharashtra Industry, Labour & Energy Department. 16.      Secretary to the Government of Orissa, Labour & Employment Department. 17.      Secretary to the Government of Punjab, Labour Department. 18.      Secretary to the Government of Rajasthan, Labour & Employment Department. 19.      Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, Labour & Employment Department. 20.      Secretary to the Government of Uttar Pradesh, Labour Department. 21.      Secretary to the Government of West Bengal, Labour Department. 22.      Secretary to the Government of NCT of Delhi, Labour Department, Delhi. (d) Representatives of Employers under clause (d) of sub-section (1) of Section 5A (Member) 23.      ShriJ.P.Chaudhary, All India Organization of Employers, (Council of Indian Employers) 24.      Shri Ram S. Tarneja, Employer’s Federation of India, (Council of Indian Employers) 25.      ShriSharadPatil, Employees’ Federation of India, (Council of Indian Employers) 26.      Dr.U.D.Choubey, Director General, Scope (Council of Indian Employers) 27.      ShriSantoshSaraf, ASSOCHAM 28.      ShriSushantaSen, Confederation of Indian Industry 29.      Shri B.P. Pant, FICCI 30.      ShriBabulalTodi, AIMO 31.      ShriBadish Jindal, (FASII). 32.      Shri Ravi Wig, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (e) Representatives of employees under clause (e) of sub-section (1) of Section 5A (Member) 33.      ShriGirishAwasthi, BMS 34.      ShriBaijNathRai, BMS 35.      Shri M. JagadishwaraRao, BMS 36.      Shri G. Sanjeeva Reddy, INTUC 37.      Shri Ashok Singh, INTUC 38.      Shri D.L. Sachdev, AITUC 39.      Shri A.D. Nagpal, HMS 40.      Shri A.K. Padmanabhan, CITU 41.      Shri Shankar Saha, UTUC(LS) 42.      Shri Ramen Pandey, INTUC Appointed under clause (aa) of sub-section (1) of section 5A 43.      Central Provident Fund Commissioner  – Ex officio Member

Top EPFO officer suspended

Top EPFO officer suspended

The Union Ministry of Labour and Employment has suspended P Sudhakar Babu, the second senior most officer in Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), in the Rs 72-crore PF scam related to Andhra Pradesh-based Chaitanya Group of Educational Institutions. The case is being investigated by the CBI’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, Hyderabad, which requested for his suspension.

Sudhakar Babu was earlier posted in Hyderabad as Additional Central PF Commissioner. He was later posted as Additional Central PF Commissioner of Karnataka and Goa states. Babu was suspended Friday evening based on a request by the CBI which had filed an FIR last September against Babu and four regional PF commissioners — G R Suchindernath, K S Arya, A Ravi Kumar, and S S Shastry. “Sudhakar Babu is the main accused in the case, we had sent a request to the ministry. The investigation is still going on, it is a very lengthy process,’’ CBI SP H Venkatesh said on Sunday.

Controversial circular, interest rates kept EPFO busy in 2012

Controversial circular, interest rates kept EPFO busy in 2012

From slashing interest rates on EPF to a controversial circular that proposed to make it difficult to probe defaulting employers and recover provident fund dues of workers, it was an unusual year for the retirement fund body EPFO.

The circular, issued by EPFO head on his last day in service, was red flagged by trade unions as well as internally.

Only after the Labour Ministry's intervention, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which manages PF accounts of over 5 crore subscribers, decided to keep in abeyance its implementation.

The EPFO circular has sought to tighten norms for initiation of inquiry against employers in provident fund (PF) cases and clubbing of allowances with basic wages for computing PF contribution.

Government to review EPF circular on salary, allowances

You can breathe easy with the government reviewing a circular issued by the Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) that had asked employers to deduct the subscription from the gross salary, including allowances, a move that would have reduced the take-home salary of over 5 crore workers.

A senior labour ministry official said there was a "rethink" on the circular that was issued on November 30, although a final decision is yet to be taken.

The official added that the circular did not actually change the rules and had not clarified which allowances needed to be included in the calculation of basic wage. The circular was meant to ensure that employers did not shirk their responsibility, the official added.

Not all allowances exempt from PF: EPFO

Not all allowances exempt from PF: EPFO

However, circular does not clarify which these allowances are 

The flexibility exercised by employers and the provident fund authorities in the definition of basic wages has finally caught the attention of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation ( EPFO). It has sought to clarify the definition of basic wages based on which provident fund is calculated seeking to include payments made by employers under sundry heads to ensure that the basic wages remain small.

The clarification is meant to help workers get higher PF contributions from employers, PF officials said, adding that only an amendment in the EPFO Act can ensure that allowances do not eat into basic wages or that the latter is as big as the minimum wages.

 

The Central Provident Fund Commissioner has in a circular issued on November 30 clarified the definition of basic wages based on which provident fund is calculated for workers.

Save more in provident fund, but take home less as salary

A recent circular issued by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation - which comes under the ministry of labour and employment - will reduce the take home pay of salaried employees. As per this circular, various allowances paid to employees will have to be added back to the basic salary and provident fund contributions computed against this higher value. This, in turn, will mean a lower take home pay.

The circular dated November 30, 2012, was issued after internal review meetings held in late November and has been forwarded to Employee Provident Fund offices across India.
Historically, most companies have been computing provident fund (PF) contributions (at 12% each by the employer and employee) against basic salary and dearness allowance only. However, the definition of basic wages has been a contentious issue, with PF authorities claiming that companies split the basic wages into various allowances to reduce the quantum of PF contributions.

The circular deals with this "splitting up" practice adopted by employers. It states that basic wages will include all allowances which are "ordinarily, necessarily and uniformly" paid to the employees. Thus, various allowances such as conveyance, educational allowance, medical allowance, etc., will have to be taken into consideration while computing the PF contribution.