EPFO adds 16.26 lakh net members in November-2022
Author: BI Bureau
New Delhi: The provisional payroll data of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) released, highlights that EPFO has added 16.26 lakh net members in the month of November- 2022. The data indicates an increase of 25.67 per cent net additions as compared to the previous month in October-2022. Year-on-year comparison of payroll data reflects an increase of 16.50 per cent in net membership addition in November-2022 as compared to the corresponding month during last year in 2021.
Of the total 16.26 lakh members added during the month, around 8.99 lakh new members have come under the ambit of EPFO for the first time thus, showing that new members joining EPFO has increased by 1.71 lakh, from 7.28 lakh in October 2022. Among the new members, highest enrolment is registered in the age-group of 18-21 years with 2.77 lakh members, followed by age-group of 22-25 years with 2.32 lakh members. The age-groups of 18-25 years constitute 56.60 per cent of total new members during the month. This shows that first-time job seekers are largely joining the organised sector workforce of the country.
The data also highlights that approximately 11.21 lakh members re-joined EPFO membership. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, extending their social security protection.
The gender-wise analysis of payroll data indicates that enrolment of net female members has been 3.19 lakh in November, 2022. As compared to previous month, net female member addition has increased by around 0.56 lakh from 2.63 lakh in October 2022. Year-on-year comparison of enrolment data shows a growth of 7.90 per cent in net membership of females in organised workforce, in November 2022 compared with the net female membership during previous year in November, 2021.
The state-wise payroll figures highlight that month-on-month growing trend in net member addition is reflected in the states of Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. These states together add 58.23 per cent of total net membership during the month. Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 20 per cent of overall member addition followed by the state of Tamil Nadu with 10.91 per cent during the month.
The payroll data is provisional since the data generation is a continuous exercise, as updating employee records is a continuous process. The previous data hence gets updated every month. From the month of April-2018, EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period September, 2017 onwards. In monthly payroll data, the count of members joining EPFO for the first time through Aadhaar validated Universal Account Number (UAN), existing members exiting from coverage of EPFO and those who exited but re-joining as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.
EPFO is India’s principal organisation responsible for social security coverage to the organised sector workforce covered under the purview of Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. /BI/
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The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores.
As the economy comes to a standstill amid the coronavirus-led lockdown, India’s agriculture sector has taken the baton of economic growth in its hands. The exports of agricultural commodities from March to June 2020 shot up by 23.24 percent on-year to Rs 25,552.7 crores, according to the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The government said that self-reliant agriculture is critical for the goal of an Atmanirbhar Bharat and for this, agricultural export is extremely important as besides earning foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to take advantage of the wider international market and increase their income.
The surge in exports has also resulted in increased production in the farm sector by increasing coverage area and productivity. The share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27 percent and 1.90 percent, respectively. Even during the difficult time of pandemic lockdown, India took care not to disturb the world food supply chain and continued to export, the government said.
Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a comprehensive action plan for the promotion of Agri trade; the twofold approach focuses on boosting Agri Export with emphasis on value addition and action plan for Import Substitution. Recently, the Agriculture sector has witnessed a series of reforms, giving more choices to the farmers to sell their produce at competitive rates.
To mention a few, the Export strategy focuses on the export promotion of fast-evolving niche markets of Wellness food/ Health-conscious food/nutraceuticals, Development of “Brand India” in campaign mode to help penetration into new foreign markets and of new products which automatically translates into higher value realization, Gulf countries have been identified as focus destination to increase the market share which is a strong market for India though presently India caters to only 10-12% share of their total imports. A product-market matrix has been made containing a list of products of strength that could be expanded in new geographies and a list of known markets which can be introduced with newer products.
At the behest of the Department of Agricultural Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, product-specific Export Promotion Forums have been created to lead Agri exports to new heights. Each Export Promotion Forum shall be having exporters of the related commodity as its members along with official members representing concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central and State Governments. Chairman APEDA shall be the chairman of each of these forums. The forums will meet at least once every two months, to discuss recommendations on issues pertaining to the export.
The recommendations of the forum will be placed in the product committee / Authority of APEDA. The Forum will keep in close contact with the concerned organization of the Ministry of Agriculture such as MIDH, Extension, NPPO, etc., DGFT, Ministry of Civil Aviation, MoFPI, etc. to further the interest of agricultural export.
