On March 24, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the country will observe a total lockdown for 21 days due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman then came out with a slew of measures to help people in the unorganised sector and others to cope in these unprecedented times.
The Finance Minister announced that the government will pay the EPF contribution both of the employer and the employee (12% each) for the next three months.
“This is for all those establishments that have up to 100 employees and 90 percent of whom earn under Rs 15,000 per month,” the FM said.
Also, the govt amended EPFO regulations to allow workers under EPFO to draw up to 75% of their non-refundable advance or 3 months of wages, whichever is lower. “This will benefit 4.8 crore workers who are registered with the EPF,” she added.
The recent announcement from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) states that it has processed about 1.37 lakh claims across the country disbursing an amount of Rs. 279.65 crore under a new provision especially formulated by amending the EPF Scheme to help subscribers fight Covid-19, as per the press release.
“The remittances of the money has already started taking place. The system as it stands today is processing all applications which are fully KYC compliant within less than 72 hours. Members, who have applied for claims in some other category, can also file claim to fight pandemic and depending upon the KYC compliance condition of each member, every effort is being made to settle claims at the earliest,” it added.
The provision for a special withdrawal from the EPF Scheme to fight Covid-19 pandemic is part of the PMGKY scheme announced by the government.
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