Around 30,000 additional employees in Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Thoothukudi district are expected to get social security coverage by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s enhanced wages ceiling from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000.
Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner – I S. Sivashanmugam and Regional Provident Fund Commissioner – II G. Sundaresan said employees, who were earning between ₹15,000 and ₹25,000 per month and were previously excluded or restricted, fall under the compulsory PF coverage. Hence, the contributions of employee and the employer shift from the maximum cap of ₹15,000 to ₹25,000.
Subsequently, the maximum employee contribution rises from ₹1,800 to ₹3,000 and ₹2,082.50 from the employer’s contribution of ₹3,000 will go to the Employees’ Pension Scheme and remaining ₹917.50 to the EPF account.
Raising the ceiling to ₹25,000 would bring substantial segment of employees in the ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 wage band within the statutory social security framework. It will expand access to provident fund savings, pension protection under the Employees’ Pension Scheme and insurance protection under the Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme in accordance with the applicable scheme provisions.
“Hence, we expect this enhancement will bring around 30,000 additional employees in Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Thoothukudi districts under EPFO coverage,” Mr. Sivashanmugam and Mr. Sundaresan said.
When asked about the alleged non-payment of sanitary workers’ EPFO contribution by a private firm hand-picked by Tirunelveli Corporation for sanitary operations even after deducting the same from their wages, they said the private firm had registered itself with EPFO Regional Office, Madurai, where it was carrying out sanitary operations.
“Even though this firm has not registered itself with the EPFO’s Tirunelveli office, after going through the reports carried in the newspapers in this connection, we inquired about it. After we came to know that similar inquiry is going on in Madurai also, we’ve alerted our counterparts in Madurai to render justice to the sanitary workers,” they replied.
The officials made it clear that the defaulting companies had been given an opportunity to settle this outstanding for the one last time, failing which would attract punitive legal measures.
“Since the concessional damages are now affordable, the defaulters should utilise this opportunity,” they said.
Published – September 21, 2026 08:52 pm IST
