EPFO's net member addition rises 11.67% to 17.89 lakh in January

New Delhi: Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has added 17.89 lakh net members in January this year, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 11.67 per cent, according to payroll data released on Thursday.

An increase of 11.48 per cent has been registered in net payroll addition in the month under review compared to December 2024, a labour ministry statement said.

According to the statement, the EPFO has released provisional payroll data for January 2025, revealing a net addition of 17.89 lakh members.

Further, the year-on-year analysis reveals a growth of 11.67 per cent in net payroll additions compared to January 2024, signifying increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, bolstered by EPFO’s effective outreach initiatives, it added.

The EPFO enrolled around 8.23 lakh new subscribers in January 2025. The new subscribers addition shows a growth of 1.87 per cent year-on-year.

It also stated that a noticeable aspect of the data is the dominance of the 18-25 age group, as 4.70 lakh new subscribers were added in the category, constituting a significant 57.07 per cent of the total new subscribers added in January 2025.

New subscribers in the 18-25 age group added in the month show a growth of 3.07 per cent year-on-year.

Further, the net payroll addition for the age group 18-25 for January 2025 is approximately 7.27 lakh, reflecting an increase of 6.19 per cent compared to December 2024 and an 8.15 per cent growth year-on-year.

This is in consonance with the earlier trend, which indicates that most individuals joining the organised workforce are youth, primarily first-time job seekers, the statement said.

The payroll data highlights that approximately 15.03 lakh members exited and subsequently rejoined EPFO, reflecting a 23.55 per cent growth year-on-year.

These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under the ambit of EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus safeguarding long-term financial well-being and extending their social security protection.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data unveils that out of the total new subscribers added during the month, around 2.17 lakhs are new female subscribers. This figure exhibits significant year-over-year growth of 6.01 per cent.

Further, the net female payroll addition during the month stood at around 3.44 lakh, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 13.48 per cent.

It also depicts a significant year-over-year growth of 13.58 per cent compared to January 2024. The growth in female member additions is indicative of a broader shift towards a more inclusive and diverse workforce.

State-wise analysis of payroll data denotes that the top five states/ UTs constitute around 59.98 per cent of net payroll addition, adding a total of around 10.73 lakh net payroll during the month.

Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 22.77 per cent of net payroll during the month. The states/UTs of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net payroll during the month.

Month-on-month comparison of industry-wise data displays significant growth in the net payroll addition working in establishments engaged in industries like expert services, financing establishment, and road motor transport, among others.

Of the total net payroll addition, around 39.86 per cent addition is from expert services (consisting of manpower suppliers, normal contractors, security services, miscellaneous activities etc.).

The payroll data is provisional since data generation is a continuous exercise as updating employee records is a continuous process. The previous data gets updated every month.

Since April 2018, the EPFO has been releasing payroll data covering the period from 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-joined as members, is taken to arrive at net monthly payroll.