The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is considering expansion in its product offering from provident fund to pension to healthcare, maternity and disability benefits. The body has a long-term expertise in catering to basic social security entitlement and this makes it apt to become manager of a basic social protection floor, reported Economic Times.
A proposal in this regard is in the works and preliminary discussions are going on, officials said.
The SPF is a nationally defined set of basic social security guarantees which secure protection aimed at preventing or alleviating poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion, and includes access to essential healthcare and basic income security.
The EPFO is currently looking to target over 450 million workers, 90 percent of which are in the unorganised sector.
The idea of expanding EPFO’s product portfolio is being looked at and will be firmed up over next few months.
As per EPFO, there is a vast untapped potential for covering the informal sector that has been included in the code on social security while those left out of the formal sector, due to size of enterprise and wage ceilings, can also be covered.