The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) reported that the gross new subscribers’ addition to retirement fund body EPFO declined by over 4 per cent to 1.09 crore in 2023-24 compared to the previous year. According to the report ‘Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective – January to April, 2024′, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) recorded 1,09,93,119 gross addition of new members in 2023-24 compared to 1,14,98,453 in 2022-23. The pandemic significantly affected the gross addition of new members, which declined from 1,10,40,683 in 2019-20 to 85,48,898 in 2020-21. It then rose to 1,08,65,063 in 2021-22. The COVID-19 lockdowns imposed by the Centre and states in 2020 and 2021 to curb the spread of the virus had a substantial impact on economic activities and employment. The data indicates that the gross new members’ addition by EPFO did not recover to the pre-COVID level of 2018-19 in the last five fiscal years till 2023-24, when it was 1,39,44,349. Since April 2018, the Ministry has been releasing employment-related statistics in the formal sector covering the period from September 2017 onwards, using information on the number of subscribers who have enrolled under three major schemes: Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), Employees’ State Insurance (ESI), and National Pension Scheme (NPS). The numbers of subscribers are from various sources and there are elements of overlap, so the estimates from various sources are not additive, as stated in the report. The report also indicated that the gross addition of members of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) dipped to 1,67,60,672 in 2023-24 from 1,67,73,023 in 2022-23. Nonetheless, according to the report, the new addition of subscribers increased under NPS to 9,37,020 in 2023-24 from 8,24,735 in 2022-23.