PF for self-employed, workers in unorganised sector on way
The EPFO is developing a framework to extend social security and provident fund benefits to gig workers, self-employed individuals, and the unorganized sector in India. The scheme will be self-funded by subscribers with flexible contribution options.
Why it matters
Expanding retirement savings to the informal economy is a major policy shift aimed at providing financial security to a large, previously uncovered workforce.
NEW DELHI: Employees' Provident Fund Organisation is readying the framework to provide social security to millions employed in the unorganised sector and exempted establishments, gig workers and people who are self-employed - presently not part of its network - allowing them to deduct a part of their income for a universal provident fund scheme.The accumulation phase is modelled on the present EPFO model, where the new subscribers will have the flexibility to contribute daily or annually, with the corpus earning annual interest and enjoying similar tax benefits. This means complete exemption for annual contribution up to 2.5 lakh with interest on it also exempt from tax. The withdrawal phase is where the retirement savings agency is planning a revamp, with subscribers allowed to retain the corpus with EPFO even at the time of retirement - a facility that can be extended to existing subscribers as well.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in