Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 statutorily applies to employees getting wages upto Rs. 6500/- in respect of scheduled establishments employing 20 or more workers. The mechanism to regulate and monitor the implementation of Labour Laws is incorporated in respective Labour Laws.

Enrolment: An employee is eligible for membership from the day he joins the covered establishment. If the employee’s emoluments exceed Rs. 6,500/- per month, he has the option to join the Scheme(s) with the consent of employer. The new entrant has to declare previous employment details, if any, in Form No. 11 to the employer. On becoming a member of the Schemes file details in Form No. 2 ( family particulars/ nominations) through the employer.

Rate of contribution payable by a member shall be @ 12% of his emoluments. A member can contribute statutarily over and above the prescribed rate.

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Rate of interest on Employees’ Provident Fund for every year is recommended by the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund on the basis of estimated interest income available and estimated liability on interest payment of the particular year.

Assessment on above lines is made every year by the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund before recommending rate of interest to the Government of India.

Actual details of expenditure for the year 2011-12 would be arrived only after updation of all the annual accounts of 2010-11.

Rate of interest for the year 2011-12 is to be recommended by the Central Board of Trustees, Employees’ Provident Fund based on both estimated interest income and estimated liability on interest payment to the Provident Fund members.

This year the rates may go down, see this report

The Provident Fund handled by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation is known as Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).

While the government had raised the rates of interest on small savings schemes, raised the investment ceiling on the popular public provident fund (PPF) from Rs 70,000 to Rs 1 lakh and also raised the rates for National Savings Certificate, an ET report says that the Employee Provident Fund rates may go down.

The report says that the downward revision will be as much as 125 basis points, i.e. 1.25%.

Excerpts: About 6 crore employees could get lower returns on their retirement savings this year, with the government considering a 1.25 percentage point reduction in the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) rate, the single largest rate cut in a decade.