Retirement fund body EPFO added 13.40 lakh members on a net basis in March, taking the total addition to 1.39 crore in 2022-23, according to payroll data released on Saturday.

EPFO had added a total of 1.22 crore members on a net basis in 2021-22. Out of 13.40 lakh members added during the month of March, around 7.58 lakh new members have come under the ambit of EPFO for the first time, a labour ministry statement said.

“During the financial year 2022-23, around 1.39 crore net members have been added by the EPFO with an increase of 13.22 per cent compared to the previous financial year 2021-22 wherein EPFO had added approximately 1.22 crore net members,” the statement said.

Among the newly joined members, the highest enrolment is registered in the age group of 18-21 years with 2.35 lakh members, followed by the age group of 22-25 years with 1.94 lakh members.

The age-groups of 18-25 years constitute 56.60 per cent of total new members added during the month. This age-wise comparison of payroll data indicates that the majority of the members joining the organised sector workforce of the country are first-time job seekers.

The data also highlights that approximately 10.09 lakh members re-joined EPFO membership. These members switched their jobs and re-joined the establishments covered under EPFO and opted to transfer their accumulations instead of applying for final settlement thus, extending their social security protection, it stated.

Gender-wise analysis of payroll data reflects that enrolment of net female members has been 2.57 lakh in March 2023, which is around 19.21 per cent of the net member addition for the month.

Of these, 1.91 lakh female members are the new joiners. This is around 25.16 per cent addition of all the new joiners.

State-wise payroll figures highlight that month-on-month growing trend in net member addition is reflected in the states of Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Mizoram, etc.

In terms of net member addition, top 5 states are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat. These states together constitute 58.68 per cent of net member addition during the month.

Of all the states, Maharashtra is leading by adding 20.63 per cent of net members followed by the state of Tamil Nadu with 10.83 per cent during the month.