NEW DELHI: India proposes to introduce provident fund for home assist and different self-employed individuals equivalent to drivers, as a part of the Narendra Modi-led authorities’s plan to widen the social safety web.

The labour ministry plans to amend the Workers’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provident Act to empower the federal government to inform the speed and length of contributions for any class of staff.

The transfer follows the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan Dhan pension scheme unveiled for unorganised sector employees. The target is to permit charges of contribution for sure lessons of staff decrease than the obligatory 12% and even exemption for employers from any legal responsibility if the necessity arises, a senior authorities official stated.

The brand new provision will empower the federal government to repair charges for a wider part of employees equivalent to drivers, maids or the self-employed, the official advised ET. “Apart from, the federal government could notify whether or not in these instances the employer is liable to contribute or not,” the official stated, requesting anonymity.

The labour ministry’s draft modification to the Act proposes that the Centre “specify charges of contribution and the interval for which such charges shall apply for any class of staff.”

A preliminary draft of the EPF & MP (Modification) Invoice, 2019, dated August 23, has been circulated for stakeholder session. It has sought feedback till September 22. ET has reviewed a replica of the invoice.

Domestic help, others may get PF benefits

At present, each employer and worker contribute 12% every to the Workers Provident Fund Organisation, whereas the speed is 10% for beedi, brick, jute, coir, and guar gum industries, any institution declared a sick firm or firms with gathered loses equal to or in extra of their web price on the finish of a given monetary 12 months. The EPF & MP Act is relevant to each institution using 20 or extra individuals.

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“With the change within the industrial and financial situation of the nation resulting in elevated mobility of labour and outsourcing of providers, want has been felt for introducing some amendments within the provisions of the Act,” the labour ministry stated in a short word despatched with the proposed draft modification.

Subscribers could also be given the selection of switching between the EPFO and the Nationwide Pension Scheme and people with revenue under a sure threshold can decide to not contribute to PF with out impacting the employers’ contribution. “This flexibility will allow modification of charges of contribution relying on numerous components like age, revenue, gender,” it stated.

The federal government proposes to alter the definition of wages underneath the act to align it with the just lately notified wage code. At current, the PF contribution is computed on the idea of fundamental wages, dearness allowance and retaining allowance.

The modification seeks to stipulate that allowances paid above 50% or as a notified proportion of all remuneration be included as wages, in accordance with the draft.

The transfer is in sync with the federal government’s endeavour to reform labour legal guidelines and produce all lessons of employees within the ambit of social safety, decrease the provident fund burden on employers and enhance the take-home wage for workers.

Nonetheless, commerce unions had opposed a finances announcement of 2015-16 with regard to NPS as an choice, forcing the federal government to roll it again.

Referring to the finances announcement of 2015-16, Vrijesh Upadhyaya, basic secretary of the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, stated, “We have now opposed these adjustments earlier and can proceed to take action as it’s in opposition to the curiosity of the employees.”

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Nationwide Pension Scheme can’t be an choice to EPFO as the advantages underneath the 2 schemes are completely different, he stated.