EPFO wage ceiling of ₹25,000 too little, too late, says AITUC

A trade union on Thursday (September 17, 2026) criticised the government’s decision to revise the monthly wage ceiling for coverage under EPFO’s social security schemes to ₹25,000, saying the hike is “too little and too late”.

The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) demands that the ceiling be raised to ₹30,000 to include deserving sections of employees, a statement said.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) decided to raise the monthly wage ceiling for mandatory coverage under the social security schemes run by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from ₹15,000 to ₹25000.

AITUC strongly contends that the Union Cabinet’s decision to raise the EPFO wage ceiling from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000, after a gap of 12 years, is a belated response to a long-pending demand of the trade unions, the statement said.

The ceiling was last revised in September 2014. Since then, wages, prices and the cost of living have risen substantially, it argued.

The demand for raising the ceiling has been repeatedly raised before the Government and the EPFO. In 2022, the growing demand for enhancement of the Rs 15,000 ceiling was formally raised in Parliament, it noted.

In the EPFO Central Board, employee representatives pressed for an increase to ₹25,000, including a specific proposal in February 2024, it stated. Yet the government did not heed it, depriving millions of workers earning above ₹15,000 of mandatory EPFO coverage, it pointed out.

It is therefore impossible to welcome the present decision neither as a timely measure nor an adequate one in terms of the ceiling, it held.

Arguing that ₹25,000 is not an adequate ceiling, AITUC said that any social security must keep pace with the workers’ earnings. It must evolve in consonance with the minimum wages, actual wages, inflation and cost of living, it pointed out.

“This revision is therefore too little and too late. AITUC demands that the ceiling may be raised to ₹30,000 in order to include deserving sections of employees,” it stated.

The benefit of expansion of social security should not be at the cost of reduced monthly pay packet, it stated.

The employer’s statutory EPFO contribution must be paid over and above the employee’s CTC (cost to company) and should not be deducted from or adjusted against the employee’s agreed and existing wages.