Over 1,250 private trusts managing ₹3.50 lakh crore life-savings of nearly 3.2 million employees will have to provide better or at least equal benefits to their workers compared to government-run EPFO terms, according to a new SOP.
The new SOP consolidates existing rules and aims to reduce compliance burden and promote ease of living. It reiterates that benefits provided by exempted establishments must be better or at least equal to EPFO benefits and restricts private trusts to pay arbitrary interests, capping it at 2%.
The 133-page document provides a clear listing of requisite documents for grant, surrender, and cancellation of exemption, and reduces the number of documents required for different processes of exemption.
The SOP also provides an end-to-end digital process for surrender and transfer of past accumulations, making audit of exempted establishments more transparent and efficient.
Private trusts must have an online portal for grievance resolution, integrated with EPFO's public grievance handling system, to protect ordinary employees' interests.
