SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
Institutions: Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) | Ministry of Labour & Employment
The Union Minister for Labour & Employment launched the Employees’ Enrolment Scheme – 2025 at the EPFO’s 73rd Foundation Day, marking a leap toward achieving the goal of “Social Security for All”. This special initiative provides a six-month window (November 1, 2025, to April 30, 2026) for employers to voluntarily enrol eligible employees who were previously left out of EPF coverage between July 1, 2017, and October 31, 2025, and to regularize their past compliance.
The scheme is designed to simplify regularization and promote mass formalization of the workforce through unprecedented leniency. Under the scheme, the employee’s share of contribution has been waived for the past period if not deducted earlier. The employer’s liability is significantly reduced, requiring remittance only of the employer’s share, interest, administrative charges, and a lump-sum penal damage of just ₹100 per establishment. Crucially, no suo-motu compliance action shall be taken by the EPFO during this window.
This scheme represents a major administrative and governance move to accelerate the formalization of India’s vast workforce by using strong financial incentives (waived employee contribution, nominal penalty) to overcome employers’ hesitation regarding past defaults, directly bolstering social safety networks and reducing economic inequality across the country.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: Following this six-month enrolment window, what robust, technology-driven enforcement mechanisms will the EPFO introduce to ensure continuous, universal compliance by employers?
Follow the full news here: Launch of EPFO’s Employees’ Enrolment Scheme – 2025