EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation)

Every month, tens of millions of Indian salaried workers watch a slice of their pay disappear into a fund they rarely think about. That fund is run by the EPFO, India’s central retirement-savings institution. By mid-2026, it held retirement savings for 34 crore member accounts.

MCQ Questions

EPFO

34 Cr

Member accounts credited interest by 15 July 2026

Established under the EPF & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

Three Schemes

EPF, EPS, EDLI

Provident fund, pension, and deposit-linked insurance.

FY 2025-26 Rate

8.25%

Interest rate credited to member accounts.

Corpus

₹24.75 Lakh Cr

Investible corpus, more than doubled in 5 years (FY19-24).

Ministry

Labour & Employment

Chaired by the Union Labour Minister via a tripartite Board.

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1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Current Affairs
4Test Yourself
5Great to Know

Must Know

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) was established by an ordinance on 15 November 1951. This was replaced by the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, on 4 March 1952.
EPFO works under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. It is administered by a tripartite Central Board of Trustees, with representatives of the Government, state governments, employers, and employees, chaired by the Union Labour Minister.
EPFO runs three core schemes. The Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952, is the main retirement-savings fund. The Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995, provides a monthly pension after retirement.
The third scheme, the Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976, provides life insurance cover to members.
Under EPF, both employer and employee contribute 12% of basic wages plus dearness allowance. The employee’s full share goes into the EPF account. The employer’s share splits: 8.33% goes to the pension fund, and the rest goes to EPF.

Good to Know

Under EDLI, only the employer contributes, at 0.5% of the employee’s basic salary. The employee pays nothing, and the insurance cover applies regardless of the cause of death.
Each member gets a Universal Account Number (UAN). This stays fixed for life, letting workers carry one continuous EPF record across different employers.
For FY 2025-26, EPFO set an interest rate of 8.25%. It credited this interest to 34 crore member accounts by 15 July 2026, the earliest such credit on record, totalling roughly ₹1.44 lakh crore.
EPFO’s investible corpus more than doubled in five years. It grew from ₹11.1 lakh crore in FY19 to ₹24.75 lakh crore in FY24.

Current Affairs

On 17 July 2026, EPFO launched “VISHWAS, 2026,” a scheme to settle pending damages and penalty disputes. It covers cases under Section 14B of the EPF Act, and Section 128 of the Code on Social Security, 2020. (Source: PIB)
For defaults before 14 June 2024, VISHWAS offers sharply reduced damage rates — from 0.25% a month for short defaults, up to 1% a month for defaults over four months. Employers must first pay all outstanding interest. (Source: PIB)
The scheme runs for six months from its 29 June 2026 notification. Applications go through EPFO’s Employer Portal, using a Digital Signature Certificate or e-Sign. (Source: PIB)
On 12 July 2026, EPFO invited applications for its new Amnesty Scheme, 2026. The scheme lets establishments running exempted Provident Fund Trusts regularise their status. It applies to trusts recognised under the Income Tax Act, 1961, that lack a formal exemption notification. (Source: PIB)
The scheme was notified on 29 June 2026, and stays open for six months. It offers retrospective regularisation from a trust’s inception, and waives the minimum headcount and corpus-size rules. Pending legal proceedings against eligible establishments will also be withdrawn. (Source: PIB)

Test Yourself

Great to Know

EPFO covers organised-sector workers with a regular employer, which is only part of India’s workforce. Wider social security coverage, including for the unorganised sector, is covered separately in IndEco0084 — Social Security Schemes in India.
EPFO’s design differs from the market-linked National Pension System (NPS). EPFO sets one interest rate for everyone each year, declared by its own Board, rather than letting returns track market performance directly.
EPFO’s scale creates real macroeconomic weight. A corpus above ₹24 lakh crore makes EPFO one of the largest single pools of long-term domestic savings available for investment in Indian markets.
The organisation’s mandate has grown well beyond simple record-keeping. Managing a multi-lakh-crore corpus, setting an annual rate that affects crore of households, and running insurance and pension arms all fall under one roof.
EPFO and the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) both now sit under the Code on Social Security, 2020, rather than only their original standalone Acts. EPFO manages retirement savings; ESIC covers medical and sickness benefits. See IndEco0193.

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