In a bid to widen the social security net, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has announced the ‘Employees’ Enrolment Scheme, 2025’ (EES 2025), allowing employers to voluntarily declare and enrol eligible workers who were previously left out of the provident fund system.
The scheme, unveiled on Monday, aims to bring both existing and new establishments under the EPF Act. Employers can declare and enrol all employees who joined their organisations between July 1, 2017, and October 31, 2025, provided they are still employed and have not been registered under the EPF scheme earlier.
EES 2025 will remain open from November 1, 2025, to April 30, 2026, and follows an earlier 2017 initiative that covered employees left out between 2009 and 2016.
Under the new scheme, the employee’s share of provident fund contributions for the past period will be waived, as long as it was not deducted from wages. Employers will only need to pay their own share for that duration.
To encourage participation, the Labour Ministry said employers will face only a nominal penalty of ₹100 as a one-time payment, a major relaxation from standard non-compliance penalties. “No suo motu compliance action shall be initiated by the EPFO against employers who avail the benefits of EES, in respect of employees who have already left the establishment,” the ministry clarified.
Employers registering under EES 2025 or declaring additional employees will also be eligible for incentives under the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rojgar Yojana, subject to specific conditions.
Key reforms in EPF withdrawal rules
Alongside the launch of EES 2025, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) — the apex decision-making body of EPFO — on Monday streamlined the withdrawal criteria from the existing 13 categories to just three broad purposes:
- Essential needs — illness, education, and marriage
- Housing needs
- Special circumstances
Members will now be allowed to withdraw up to 75% of their total EPF balance (including both employee and employer contributions), while maintaining 25% as a minimum balance at all times.
A source familiar with the decision said, “Nearly 75 per cent of EPF members had less than ₹50,000 at the time of final settlement. The minimum balance requirement ensures they continue earning a high rate of interest and benefit from compounding to build a strong retirement corpus.”
The EPFO has also relaxed withdrawal limits, allowing education-related withdrawals up to 10 times and marriage withdrawals up to 5 times, compared to the previous combined limit of three partial withdrawals.
Additionally, members can now withdraw funds under a ‘special circumstances’ category without specifying reasons, simplifying access. Previously, reasons such as natural calamity, factory closure, unemployment, or epidemics had to be explicitly mentioned.