Five New Sub-Regional Offices of ESIC to be set up across India (See 'Corp Brief') Govt extends full customs duty exemption on critical petrochemical products (See 'Corp Brief') Contempt of Court - Contempt jurisdiction cannot be invoked based on expansive or alternative interpretation of Court's orders - only clear, explicit & willful disobedience can be penalised: HC (See 'Legal Desk') CEA organizes All-India Electrical Safety awareness programme (See 'Corp Brief') Regional industries must become partners in Viksit Bharat journey: RM (See 'Corp Brief') Union Minister reviews MSME Schemes in Ladakh (See 'Corp Brief') Competition Act - Allegation pertaining to a service dispute between a user & a platform service provider w.r.t. subscription management, cancellation of service & compensation, does not come under ambit of Section 4 of the Act: CCI (See 'Legal Desk') MPEDA to organise Second National Seafood Skill Olympiad during Seafood Expo Bharat 2026 (See 'Corp Brief') India's Space and Biotechnology Sectors present new collaboration opportunities: MoS (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - After pronouncement of final judgment and decree under Order XX CPC, Court becomes functus officio and cannot grant liberty for post-decree impleadment of mirror/redirect/alphanumeric websites: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Office of Principal Scientific Adviser signs MoU with Data Security Council of India (See 'Corp Brief') Telangana strengthens Clean Cities Through Behaviour Change and Citizen Action (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - If essential and dominant feature of earlier mark is fully contained in later mark, and later mark is only pluralized form that conveys same meaning, later mark can be held deceptively similar: HC (See 'Legal Desk') JP Nadda To Release Guidelines For 'Anaemia Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan' Today (See 'Corp Brief') A&C - Restraint on alienation of assets cannot be imposed when such relief was neither specifically sought nor argued in Section 17 application: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Environment Minister inaugurates workshop on tiger reintroduction in Sariska (See 'Corp Brief') JP Nadda to unveil healthcare programme for children up to three years (See 'Corp Brief') A&C - Scope of scrutiny u/s 11 is confined to prima facie examination of existence of arbitration agreement & does not extend to adjudication of disputed questions of fact or law: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Dasheri, Chausa, Langra and Kesar showcase Rich Diversity of Indian Mangoes (See 'Corp Brief') FEMA - Statutory protection under Section 6(4) cannot be invoked to legitimise unexplained or inadequately accounted foreign exchange transactions: SAFEMA (See 'Legal Desk') Ease of Doing Business: Irritants eased out of FSSAI Licensing Regulations (See 'Corp Brief') SEBI - Failure to file Quarterly Activity Reports for multiple consecutive quarters constitutes violation of regulatory framework & attracts consequences prescribed under Regulation 35 of AIF Regulations, 2012: SEBI (See 'Legal Desk') AI, Nuclear, Space, Quantum tech to determine contours of future growth: MoS (See 'Corp Brief') SARFAESI - In absence of any adjudication by the DRT in determining the debt, statutory scheme permits reliance upon claim made by secured creditor for purpose of fixing pre-deposit: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Tech Innovation and disruption in Construction Industry (See 'CORP EINSICHT')

Print

Central Board of Trustees recommends enhancement of insurance benefits under Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance scheme

Published: Mar 01, 2025

By TIOLCorplaws News Service

NEW DELHI, MAR 01, 2025: UNION Minister for Labour & Employment and Youth Affairs & Sports, Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya chaired the 237th meeting of Central Board of Trustees (CBT), EPF in New Delhi today. The Vice-Chairman Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, Union Minister of State for Labour & Employment and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Co-Vice-Chairperson Sumita Dawra, Secretary, Labour & Employment and Member Secretary Mr. Ramesh Krishnamurthi, Central PF Commissioner were also present during the meeting.

CBT recommended 8.25% annual rate of interest to be credited on EPF accumulations in members' accounts for the financial year 2024-25. The interest rate would be officially notified by the Government of India, following which EPFO would credit the rate of interest into the subscribers' accounts.

Compared to many other fixed-income instruments, the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) offers relatively high and stable returns, ensuring steady growth of savings. The interest earned on EPF deposits is tax-free (up to a specified limit), making it a highly attractive investment option for salaried individuals. This reflects strong confidence in the credit profile of EPFO's investments and its ability to deliver competitive returns to its members.

Further continuing with the reform agenda, the CBT, under the chairmanship of Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, took a series of path breaking decisions during the CBT meeting. The major decisions taken by the Board in the meeting include:

- Enhancement of insurance benefits under EDLI Scheme: Following the actuarial valuation of the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme, the Board approved key modifications in scheme to provide greater financial security and support to the family of members. This will address major grievances under this category and ensure a more inclusive approach to benefit claimants.

Key enhancements under the revised scheme would be:

1. Minimum Benefit Introduced for death within one year of service: A minimum life insurance benefit of Rs. 50,000 will be provided in cases where an EPF member dies without completing one year of continuous service. This amendment is expected to result in higher benefits for more than 5,000 cases of deaths in service, every year.

2. Benefit for Members who die while in service after a non-contributory period: Previously, EDLI benefits were getting denied in such cases considering these as death away from service. Now, if a member passes away within six months of their last contribution received, the EDLI benefit will be admissible, provided the member's name is not stuck off from rolls. The modification is estimated to result in benefits for more than 14,000 cases of such death cases every year.

3. Consideration of Service Continuity: Earlier, a gap of even one or two days (such as weekends or holidays) between employment in two establishments led to the denial of minimum EDLI benefits of Rs 2.5 lakh and maximum of Rs 7 lakh, as the condition continuous service of one year was not met. Under the new modifications, a gap of up to two months between two spells of employment will now be considered as continuous service, ensuring eligibility for higher quantum EDLI benefits. This change is expected to benefit more than 1,000 cases of deaths in service, every year.

The modifications are estimated to result in higher benefits under EDLI in more than 20,000 cases of death in service every year. These improvements aim to enhance the social security benefits for families of EPF members, ensuring better financial protection and reducing hardships faced by families in distress.

- Status Note on Hon'ble Supreme Court Judgment on PoHW: For implementation of Hon'ble Supreme Court judgment dated 04.11.2022 relating to Pension on Higher Wages (PoHW), various steps have been taken by EPFO to facilitate members/pensioners/employers. CBT was apprised that EPFO is working on a mission mode and 72% of the applications have been processed.

- Performance in Centralised Pension Payments System (CPPS): The Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has successfully implemented the Centralized Pension Payment System (CPPS) across all Regional Offices (ROs) from January 2025. Under this system, pension payments for all ROs are disbursed through a Centralized Pension Disbursement Account (CPDA) maintained at the New Delhi Branch of SBI. This will significantly reduce the grievances of pensioners who earlier had to wait for a long time for transfer of their case details from one RO to another. During the month of January, 2025, pension to 69.35 lakh pensioners amounting to Rs. 1710 crore was disbursed through CPPS.

- Rationalizing Damages and Reducing Litigation: One of the major reasons for litigation has been the cases of imposition of damages for belated remittances of PF dues. The rate of imposition of damages had been rationalized to 1% per month of delay vide a Gazette Notification dated 14.06.2024. This is effective for defaults after the date of notification i.e. June 2024. In respect of defaults that had occurred prior to this period the rate of damages applicable ranged from 5% for delays for two months and up to 25% for delays beyond 6 months. In order to mitigate this situation and with a view of reduce and control the litigation, it was discussed to introduce a statutory mechanism wherein there would be an automatic abatement of cases on deposit of damages at the rate of 1% per month of delay.

- Approval of Annual Budget of EPFO: The Board also approved the Revised Estimates for the year 2024-25 and Budget Estimates for the year 2025-26 for EPFO and the schemes administered by it.

In the above meeting of CBT, representatives from the employers, employees and other senior officers of the Central Government and EPFO were also present.

TIOL CORP SEARCH

TIOL GROUP WEBSITES

taxindiaonline
taxindiainternational
tioltube
TKF
TIOLawards
A TIOL Website. Copyright © 2025 TIOLcorplaws.com All rights reserved.