AITUC Seeks Rs. 30,000 EPF Wage Ceiling After Rs. 25,000 Hike

The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has urged the Centre to further increase the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) wage ceiling to ₹30,000 per month, days after the government raised it from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000.

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AITUC said the revised ceiling is not enough to cover more workers under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and called for a higher limit to reflect rising wages and living costs. The demand was reported on September 21, 2026.

AITUC Seeks Higher EPF Coverage

The trade union body has also called for a regular and automatic revision mechanism for the EPFO wage ceiling. It said the ceiling should be reviewed periodically in line with changes in wages and the cost of living, instead of remaining unchanged for several years.

The government had increased the mandatory EPFO coverage ceiling from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 with effect from September 17, 2026. The previous limit had remained unchanged since September 2014.

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According to the government, the revised ceiling is expected to bring more than 51 lakh additional employees under mandatory EPFO coverage. Employees in the ₹15,000–₹25,000 wage band will come within the statutory social security framework, subject to applicable provisions.

What the ₹30,000 Demand Means

If accepted, the AITUC proposal would further widen the group of employees covered under mandatory EPFO provisions. The union has argued that the higher ceiling is needed to ensure that social security coverage keeps pace with wage growth.

The ₹30,000 figure is currently a demand from AITUC and not a government decision. The existing statutory ceiling remains ₹25,000.

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The government’s September decision covers the three major EPFO-linked schemes—Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF), Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) and Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI)—as applicable under the respective scheme provisions.

The development puts the focus on the next stage of the EPFO wage ceiling debate: whether the limit should be revised periodically as wages and the cost of living increase.