At 17.89 lakh, EPFO net member addition grows over 11%
Logging a year-on-year growth of 11.67 per cent, the retirement fund body—Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)—has added 17.89 lakh net members in January this year.
As per official data released by the Labour Ministry on Thursday, the EPFO has registered an increase of 11.48 per cent in net payroll addition in January 2025 as compared to December 2024.
Signifying increased employment opportunities and heightened awareness of employee benefits, bolstered by EPFO’s effective outreach initiatives, the provisional payroll data for January 2025 revealed a net addition of 17.89 lakh EPFO members while the year-on-year analysis showed a growth of 11.67 per cent in net payroll additions compared to January 2024.
With an enrolment of about 8.23 lakh new subscribers in January 2025, the addition shows a growth of 1.87 per cent year-on-year.
The data further reflected a noticeable aspect of the dominance of the 18-25 age group, with 4.70 lakh new subscribers added in the category, constituting a significant 57.07 per cent of the total new subscribers’ addition 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,” the EPFO said, while revealing that 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.
Noting that 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 payroll data highlighted that approximately 15.03 lakh members exited and subsequently re-joined 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,” it revealed.
Sharing the gender-wise analysis of payroll data, EPFO said out of the total new subscribers added during the month, about 2.17 lakh are new female subscribers. “This figure exhibits significant year-over-year growth of 6.01 per cent,” it said, while revealing that 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.
Depicting 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.
Maharashtra on top
Denoting that the top five states/ UTs constitute around 59.98 per cent of net payroll addition, the state-wise analysis of payroll data showed an addition of around 10.73 lakh net payroll during January.
With Maharashtra leading by adding 22.77 per cent of net payroll during the month under review, the states/ UTs of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana individually added more than 5 per cent of the total net payroll during January.
Expert services lead
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).
