NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body EPFO's gross new subscribers' addition declined by over 4 per cent to 1.09 crore in 2023-24 compared to a year ago, according to a report by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

As detailed in the report, titled 'Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective –January to April, 2024,' the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recorded 1,09,93,119 gross new members in 2023-24, a drop from 1,14,98,453 in 2022-23.

The pandemic played a significant role in this decline, with the gross addition of new members falling from 1,10,40,683 in 2019-20 to 85,48,898 in 2020-21, before bouncing back to 1,08,65,063 in 2021-22. The lockdown restrictions imposed during 2020 and 2021 to contain the coronavirus impacted both economic activities and employment.

Despite some recovery, the data shows that the gross new members' addition by EPFO has not returned to the pre-COVID level of 1,39,44,349 in 2018-19. Since April 2018, the ministry has been releasing employment-related statistics using subscriber data from EPF, Employees' State Insurance (ESI), and National Pension Scheme (NPS). However, the estimates from various sources are not additive due to overlaps.

The report also highlighted a slight dip in the gross addition of members of Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to 1,67,60,672 in 2023-24 from 1,67,73,023 in 2022-23. In contrast, new subscriber additions under NPS increased to 9,37,020 in 2023-24 from 8,24,735 in the previous year.