The net new enrolments with retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation grew 27.79% to 13.35 lakh in January compared to January of 2020, according to the payroll data released on Saturday. The data gives a ray of hope for the formal sector employment amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The labour ministry, in a statement, said, “The provisional payroll data of EPFO published on March 20, 2021 highlights a growing trend of subscriber base with the addition of 13.36 lakh net subscribers during January 2021.”

It also stated that the data reflects growth of 24% for January 2021 over the last month of 2020.

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The ministry added that, year-on-year comparison of payroll data indicates an increase in net subscribers by 27.79% as compared to last year, which signifies return to pre-COVID levels of growth for EPF.

Even though the pandemic has affected the growth of markets around the world, EPFO added 62.49 lakh subscribers in the first 10 months of the ongoing fiscal year, the data showed.

Despite the pandemic, EPFO added around 62.49 lakh subscribers during the first ten months of the ongoing fiscal year, the data showed. A statement said that around 8.20 lakh new members of the 13.36 lakh net subscribers added during the month of January 2021 will receive benefits of EPFO’s social security for the first time.

According to the age-wise analysis of the new members indicate that in January this year, around 3.48 lakh subscribers who joined were between the age of 22-25, according to the data by EPFO. The analysis of the data shows a healthy growth in comparison with the past months.

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Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Haryana and Karnataka are at the forefront with most number of the subscribers joining from these states. Around 34.24 lakh net subscribers out of 62.49 lakh joined from these five states, according to the data.

EPFO manages social security funds of workers from the organised and semi-organised sectors in India.