About 7.4 lakh subscribers of the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) have withdrawn close to Rs 2,368 crore in the last month, as per a report by The Times of India.
This was done using a special facility set up by the central government in light of the COVID-19 lockdown, that enables holders to pull out 75% of their funds or amount worth 3 months’ salary as a non-refundable withdrawal. In totality, EPFO has reportedly settled 12.9 lakh claims amounting to Rs 4,685 crore, including the withdrawals conducted through the special window facility.
On 26 March, the government had announced that it will pay the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) contribution of both the employer and the employee (12 percent each) for the next three months, applicable to all those establishments having employed up to 100 employees and about 90 percent of whom earn Rs 15,000 per month.
The EPFO said exempted trusts like the ones run by TCS, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank and others had also seen withdrawals, indicating that white collar workers were also living with a liquidity crunch.
Exempted trusts have disbursed Rs 875.5 crore as of 27 April to 79,743 EPF subscribers as an advance for coronavirus.
(With inputs from Times of India)
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