The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is a statutory body and one of India's main social security agencies, operating under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. It was established to provide social security to workers in the organized sector. The EPFO originated with the enactment of the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, which replaced the earlier Employees' Provident Fund Ordinance, 1951. The Act was created to solve the problem of post-retirement financial insecurity by mandating compulsory savings for employees.
The EPFO administers three key schemes for employees in establishments with 20 or more persons: the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 (EPF), the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS), and the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976 (EDLI). Under the EPF, both the employer and employee contribute 12% of the employee's basic wages and dearness allowance. The employee's entire share goes into the EPF, while the employer's share is split, with 8.33% diverted to the EPS for a monthly pension after retirement, and the remainder to the EPF. The mechanism is facilitated by the Universal Account Number (UAN), a 12-digit number assigned to each employee for portability and online management of their account.
The EPFO is closely connected to the Code on Social Security, 2020, which aims to consolidate India's labour laws. The most significant recent change is the replacement of the original schemes: the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 was replaced by the EPF Scheme, 2026, and the EPS, 1995 was replaced by the EPS, 2026, both notified on June 29, 2026. While the core structure of the provident fund remains, the new framework is legally rooted in the Code on Social Security, 2020. Furthermore, the mandatory wage ceiling for enrollment was recently raised from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 per month, a change approved by the Union Cabinet on September 17, 2026, to extend mandatory coverage to an estimated 5.1 million additional workers.