Salaried employees withdrew a massive ₹39,400 crore from Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) accounts between 25 March and 31 August as covid-19 impacted lives and livelihood of millions of workers, the Union labour ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Monday. Since the beginning of the lockdown on 25 March till end of August, ₹39,403 crore had been withdrawn, the labour ministry said. EPF subscribers in Maharashtra withdrew ₹7,837.85 crore, while in Karnataka the figure was ₹5,743.96 crore and in Tamil Nadu, including Puducherry, the amount of withdrawal was ₹4,984.51 crore. Delhi and Telangana are the other two states where the withdrawal by EPF subscribers was collectively more than ₹5,500 crore. The labour ministry did not give any details about reasons for the withdrawals but EPFO data showed that a majority of the withdrawal numbers are related to covid-19 advances.

Source: Mint September 15, 2020 02:48 UTC