Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The private sector of the country has been increasingly defaulting on deposits with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) with defaults rising by about 10% over the past five years, sending the amount in cumulative arrears past the Rs 15,000 crore in FY23. The provident fund is one of the earliest social safety organisation for workers of the organised sector in the country and was set up in March 1952.
The EPFO report said that default on PF dues by private sector entities stood at Rs 5,581.5 crore in 2018-19, Rs 7,146.18 crore in 2019-20, Rs 7,857.79 crore in 2020-21, and Rs 10,479.31 crore in 2021-22.
The Economic Times has quoted the EPFO’s draft annual report for FY23 to show how the private sector has increasingly accounted for PF arrears in the country. In the past five years, the share of the private sector in total arrears stands thus: 74.2% in 2018-19, 77.6% in 2019-20, 79.8% in 2020-21, 82.2% in 2021-22 and 83.17% in 2022-23.
