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The government is thinking about raising the salary limit for mandatory Employees’ Provident Fund (EPFO) contributions from ₹15000 per month to ₹30000. This change could help many middle class salaried workers in India. If approved more people will get access to retirement savings and pension benefits which are important parts of the country’s social security system. At ₹15000 the wage ceiling for EPFO coverage is currently far lower than the average salary levels in India especially in urban areas. Updated Ceiling Lags Behind Incomes The ₹15000 cap was last updated in 2014 when it was doubled from ₹6500. Salary levels - and in particular the wages of urban workers - have risen significantly since then meaning that the number of employees earning ₹18000-₹30000 a month but not mandatorily covered under EPF/pension schemes is high. Trade unions and labour bodies have long called for raising the EPF coverage limit to include more middle-income earners arguing that current exclusions from the formal pension net undercut financial security in the longer term. What the Government has said? The matter was taken up in the current Parliament session by MPs who inquired about the government’s plan to increase the EPF wage ceiling to ₹30000 per month as well as inclusion of gig workers in the EPF coverage net. Responding Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that mandatory EPF coverage continued to be only for those up to ₹15000 per month at the moment. He said a revision of the ceiling will need “extensive stakeholder consultations” with all stakeholders including trade unions and industry bodies with an eye to finding a “suitable solution” for both employees and employers given the financial and structural impact on them. What will be the impact? Raising the wage ceiling to ₹30000 will lead to large numbers of employees especially in the ₹15000-₹30000 bracket getting mandatorily covered under the EPF. At present employees contribute 12% of the basic wage to the EPF and the employer matches it with another 12% contribution.Part of the 12% from the employer goes into the pension benefit account. For many employees this would increase the size of the retirement corpus and also the pension benefits on maturity. However it will also mean a smaller take-home pay in the shorter term due to higher monthly deductions. An internal labour ministry report is said to have estimated that increasing the ceiling could potentially add more than one crore workers to the mandatory EPF and pension coverage. What’s Next? The government has not set any date for when or if the EPF wage ceiling will be raised. The official statement in Parliament on the matter underlined that any change would be made only after consultations with stakeholders and review by the EPFO board. In the next few weeks employees in the ₹15000–₹30000 range especially in the private sector are likely to be watching the developments in this space closely. A revision in the wage ceiling if implemented could be one of the largest changes in India’s social security system in recent years potentially enabling millions of workers to build retirement savings for the first time.