The retirement savings managed and overseen by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) are set to cross the Rs.10 lakh- crore mark this month. It will make it the eleventh largest pension fund in the world.
This include Rs. 7 lakh crore remitted to the PF department and managed by fund managers and Rs. 3 lakh crore managed by the company-run self-managed PF trusts that EPFO regulate.
With savings of over 8.5 crore employees in the formal sector from 6.32 lakh establishments, the EPFO is already India’s second largest non-banking financial institution with only Life Insurance Corporation of India having a bigger kitty.
The EPF is one of the main platforms of savings for all employees working in Government, Public or Private sector Organizations.
It came into existence with the promulgation of the Employees’ Provident Funds Ordinance on the 15th November, 1951. It was replaced by the Employees’ Provident Funds Act, 1952.
It is now referred as the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 which extends to the whole of Indian except Jammu and Kashmir.
The Employees’ Provident Funds Bill was introduced in the Parliament as Bill Number 15 of the year 1952 as a Bill to provide for the institution of provident funds for employees in factories and other establishments. Since its enactment in 1952, the Act has been amended 15 times till now.