Union Cabinet Approves Hike in EPFO Monthly Wage Ceiling to ₹25,000

Key facts

• The Union Cabinet approved the Ministry of Labour & Employment's proposal to raise the EPFO wage ceiling for mandatory coverage from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 per month.
• The move is expected to bring over 51 lakh additional employees under mandatory EPFO coverage.
• The EPFO wage ceiling was previously raised to ₹15,000 in September 2014 after remaining unchanged between 2004 and 2014.
• The higher ceiling widens access to provident fund savings, pension benefits under the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS), and insurance protection under the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme.
• The proposal received the Expenditure Finance Committee's recommendation at its meeting on 16 June 2026 after inter-ministerial consultations.
• The government's estimated annual expenditure under the revised arrangement is about ₹11,339 crore, against existing annual budgetary support of about ₹10,250 crore, with five-year expenditure estimated at approximately ₹56,696 crore.
• EPFO data shows around 7.98 crore members contributing through about 7.68 lakh establishments, while EPS provides pensions to around 82 lakh pensioners.
• The official notification giving effect to the revised wage ceiling is still awaited.