As per the Labour Ministry, a total of 4.45 crore claims were settled by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in 2023-24 compared to 4.13 crore settlements in 2022-23. There has been a significant 7.8 per cent rise in claim settlements.
These numbers were revealed by the retirement fund body at the 109th meeting of the Executive Committee, Central Board on 8 November, where the Annual Report for 2023-24 was discussed.
The number of subscribers has gone up by 7.6 per cent. That means there are 7.37 crore contributing members in 2023-24 compared to the 6.85 crore in 2022-23.
The number of firms covered under EPFO has also gone up by 7.6 per cent to 7.66 lakh in 2023-24. Earlier, there were 7.18 lakh establishments.
The claims settled include claims related to settlement, transfer and withdrawal of provident fund, as well as pension withdrawal and Employees’ Deposit-Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI).
There was also a 55.5 per cent hike in realisation of arrears by the EPFO from the contributing establishments. While it was 3,390 crore in 2022-23, it rose to Rs 5,268 crore in 2023-24.
Earlier this year, it was reported that there had been a rise in the rejection rates of final settlement of provident funds. It had gone up from 13 to almost 34 per cent in a matter of about five years.
There is a meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of the EPFO scheduled for 23 November 23, where among other issues the topic of centralised pension payment and audited accounts for 2021-22 and 2022-23 will be discussed.
