Parliamentary Standing Committee Report on EPFO Pension
The Standing Committee of Parliamentarians on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development has emphasized the necessity to revise the minimum monthly pension of ₹1,000 for member-pensioners under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). This amount, established in 2014, has not been updated for over ten years.
Background and Current Allocation
- The minimum pension was fixed in August 2014 under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) of 1995.
- The current government allocates approximately ₹980 crore annually for minimum pension payments, an amount that needs to be tripled for a meaningful increase.
- The Centre contributes 1.16% of wages (with a ₹15,000 monthly wage ceiling) to the EPS corpus, which was revised to ₹9,250 crore for 2024-25 and is expected to exceed ₹10,000 crore in 2025-26.
Challenges and Concerns
- The EPFO's handling of applications from those opting for higher wage-based pensions is problematic.
- Applicants receive demand notices for contributions amounting to several lakhs without clarity on their entitled pension amounts and arrears.
- Many applicants have to rely on online accounts due to the lack of official communication from the EPFO.
- Applicants are required to use a portal-based calculator with no assurance of accuracy to estimate their pensions.
- Member-pensioners from exempted establishments face rejection of applications for higher pensions, and previously sanctioned higher pensions have been stopped without explanation.
Recommendations
- The Union government should initiate comprehensive stakeholder consultations.
- Steps must be taken to increase the monthly pension.
- Ensuring fair treatment of all member-pensioners is crucial.
