#EPFO Cricular on Responsibility of Principal Employer for deposit of PF

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation

(Ministry of Labour, Govt. Of India)

Head Office

Bhavishya Nidhi Bhawan, 14- Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi – 110066

(CENTRAL ANALYSIS & INTELLIGENCE UNIT)

No.CAIU/011(33)2015/HQ/Vol.II/28445                                                                                                 Dated : 02 Feb 2017

To

All ACCs in charge of Zones

All RPFC-I/RPFC-II

In-charge of Regional/Sub-Regional Offices.

Sub:- Compliance under the EPF & MP Act, 1952 in respect of the Employees engaged by or through contractors,

Sir,

Please find enclosed herewith a copy of letter on the subject cited above with regard to obligation of Principal employer to ensure compliance of their outsourced/ Regular/contract/casual/ Daily wager etc.

This letter has been sent to all the employer via e-mail after approval of Competent Authority.

It is advised to take up this issue with employer in your area to ensure maximum enrolment during current coverage and enrolment drive.

Yours faithfully,

 Encl: as above.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        (S.C. Goyal)

Addi. Central P.F. Commissioner – II (CAIU)

To,

All the Employers,

Subject: Compliance under the EPF & MP Act, 1952 in respect of the Employees engaged by or through contractors.

Sir,

It has been observed that large number of employees are being hired on Contract basis by various Principal employers including Government departments, PSUs, autonomous organizations, financial organizations etc. for their business activities. Further, in many cases, such contract employee are not being provided Social Security benefits under the EPF & MP Act, 1952which they are entitled to.

2. The EPF & MP Act, 1952 and the schemes framed thereunder are meant to provide Social Security in the form of Provident Fund, Pension and Insurance to all the employees who are employed for wages, in or in connection with the work of an The Employees Provident Fund Organization is entrusted to administer the Act, and in case of default, the Principal employer is liable to penal action.

3. Para 30(3) of the EPF Schemes state that “It shall be the responsibility of the principal employer to pay both the contribution payable by himself in respect of the employees directly employed by him and also in respect of the employees employed by or through a contractor and also administrative charges”.

4. The term”employee” has been defined to mean any person who is employed for wages in any kind of work, manual or otherwise, in or in connection with the work of an establishment and who gets his wages directly or indirectly from the employer, and includes any person employed by or through a contractor in or in connection with the work of the establishment. The Act does not differentiate between casual, contractual and regular

5. In the circumstances Principal employers’ are advised to ensure the following by way of discharge of their statutory responsibility of providing social security to contract employees:

1. The Principal employer should ensure that the contractor is registered with EPFO before awarding any After award of the contract, the contractor details should be entered in the EPFO portal.

2. Payments due to the contractor should be made only after verifying that the statutory PF payments have been made to EPFO. This can be verified either directly from the EPFO portal or insisting on a payment receipt obtained by the contractor from the EPFO portal while making payment.

6.It is further informed that even if the contractors are having separate PF code number, the overall responsibility of ensuring the compliance under the EPF & MP Act, 1952 for the employees working through the contractors by deposit of the dues with the EPFO regularly, rests with the Principal Principal employer can also deduct EPF dues from the contractors’ bill and deposit the same either against the contractors’ code number or their own code number. It is to further inform that there is a provision on the official website of EPFO under the “establishment search option” to verify whether the contractors are regularly depositing Provident fund contribution in respect of their employees.

7. All principal employer are advised to ensure compliance with these

Yours faithfully,

(S.C. Goyal)

Addl. C.P.F.C. II

Ministry of Labour notifies Minimum rates of wages for Scheduled Industry.

S.O. 186(E).—Whereas the draft proposal to revise the minimum rates of wages per day payable to the Schedule mentioned categories of employees engaged in the employment of Agriculture was published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (ii), as required by clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948), vide notification number S.O. 2832(E), dated the 1st September, 2016 of the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour and Employment for information and inviting objections and suggestions from all persons likely to be affected thereby, till the expiry of the period of two months from the date on which the copies of the Gazette of India containing the said notification were made available to the public;

For complete notification refer the below link :

Minimum rates of wages for Scheduled Industry. S.O. 186(E) by Law Reporter on Scribd

Reserve Bank of India’s Path towards Liberalisation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lies at the apex of the banking and financial structure of the country. Recently, it published various notifications that loosened certain restrictions and espoused a smooth-running of its policies. The predominant features are discussed here under.

1. FDI norms liberalized for NBFC’S:

During the Budget Speech of 2016, the Esteemed Finance Minister declared the extension of overseas

investment beyond the 18 enumerated non-banking financial companies. Under an automatic route, FDI up to 100% is permitted for ‘other financial services’, subject to the condition that they are governed by any financial service regulator, such as the RBI, SEBI, IRDA and so on. The central bank has paved the way for a greater inflow of investment via a string of actions that has liberalised FDI regulations. Additionally, minimum capitalisation regulations as necessitated under the apex bank’s norms have been quashed.

2. Provisions regarding Foreign Venture Capital Investors (FVCI)

The extant regulatory provisions pertaining to investment by a Foreign Venture Capital Investor (FVCI) have been reviewed and revised by way of Circular 7, dated October 20, 2016. Consequently, FVCI’s are empowered and allowed to invest in specific areas, even without obtaining RBI’s assent for the same. With regard to unlisted companies, FVCI’s can invest in equity, equity-related instruments or debt instruments in certain sectors,

comprising biotechnology, dairy industry, Research and development of new chemical entities in pharmaceutical sector, infrastructure etc. The circular issued by the RBI stipulated that no restraint on the transfer of any security or instrument held by the FVCI to any person residing in or outside India, will be imposed. Importantly, an FVCI can make investments into a “startup”, regardless of the sector to which it belongs. It specifies that a Venture Capital Fund, which has acquired an inflow of downstream investment from a FVCI must adhere to the regulations prescribed for downstream investment.

3. Sectoral Caps- Updated

Following the myriad alterations and provisions envisaged to conditions exclusive to certain sectors, the central bank has incorporated a system for easing the flow of foreign direct investment. Simply put, sectoral caps are the maximum amount that may be invested by overseas investors in an entity. It now consists of any and every foreign investment, direct and indirect, irrespective of the Schedule under which the investment is made. The chief pronouncements are the inauguration of a composite sectoral cap, foreign exchange management and foreign investment in LLPs.

4. Draft Framework on External Commercial Borrowings

RBI has streamlined regulations and ensured an easy flow of venture funds to startup propositions and has relaxed the norms for external commercial borrowings. It has expanded the list of recognised lenders and prescribed more flexible conditions for long term borrowings made in foreign currency. Striving to simplify the provisions regarding ECB’s, the RBI has announced that banks accept pleas from debtors for the extension of matured but outstanding ECBs, if no extra expense is borne, lender’s approval is permissible and reporting mandates are fulfilled.

The aforementioned revisions have opened the gates to boost the availability of fundraising opportunities for Indian companies from overseas investors and lenders.

SOP for Putting Indelible Ink on the Finger of the Customers

RBI/2016-17/133

DCM (Plg) No.1280/10.27.00/2016-17

November 15, 2016

The Chairman / Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer,

Public Sector Banks / Private Sector Banks/ Foreign Banks

Regional Rural Banks / Urban Co-operative Banks / State Co-operative Banks

Dear Sir

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for putting indelible ink on the finger of the customers coming to a bank branch for SBNs

Please refer to our Circular No. DCM (Plg) No.1226/10.27.00/2016-17 dated November 08, 2016 on the captioned subject. Based on feedback received from various quarters, it is felt that there is a need to put in place a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for such exchange of Specified Bank Notes (SBNs). Accordingly, ROs are advised to put in place the following measures.

i. While exchanging the SBNs, the concerned bank branch and post offices would put indelible ink mark on the right index finger of the customer so as to identify that he/she has exchanged the old currency notes only once.

ii. The indelible ink would be supplied to the bank/post offices by IBA in coordination with the banks and consultation with RBI.

iii. This procedure would be introduced to begin with in the metro cities and expanded to other areas later.

iv. Each bank branch will be provided with black indelible ink bottles of 5 ml each. The cap of the bottle includes a small brush for applying the ink.

v. The indelible ink can be applied by the cashier or any other official designated by the bank before the notes are given to the customer so that while the exchange of notes is taking place, a few seconds elapse which will allow the ink to dry up and prevent removal of ink.

vi. Indelible ink on the index finger of the left hand or any other finger of the left hand may not be used as a pretext to deny exchange of old notes.

Yours faithfully,

(P Vijaya Kumar)

Chief General Manager

RBI Circular: withdrawal for Legal Tender of ₹ 500 & 1000 Notes

RBI/2016-17/123

DCM (Plg) No.1251/10.27.00/2016-17

November 10, 2016

The Chairman / Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer,

Public Sector Banks/ Private Sector Banks / Foreign Banks/

Regional Rural Banks / Urban Cooperative Banks/

State Cooperative Banks

Dear Sir

Withdrawal of Legal Tender Character of existing ₹ 500/- and ₹ 1000/- Bank Notes –Limit for Withdrawal of Cash

Please refer to our circular DCM (Plg) No.1226/10.27.00/2016-17 November 08, 2016.

2. In terms of para 3.c (iv) of the said circular, cash withdrawal from a bank account over the counter shall be restricted to ₹ 10,000/- per day subject to an overall limit of ₹ 20,000/- a week from the date of the notification until the end of business hours on 24th November, 2016, after which these limits shall be reviewed. It is clarified that the above limits are not applicable to cash withdrawal from a bank account by

i. one bank from another bank,

ii. Post Office,

iii. Money changers operating at International airports and

iv. operators of White Label ATMs.

3. The branches maintaining Currency Chests are advised to accommodate the requests from other branches in their vicinity – linked or otherwise – for supply of cash.

4. Deposits of Specified bank Notes into all types of deposit/loan accounts is allowed subject to CTR/STR reporting.

Yours faithfully

(P Vijaya Kumar)

Chief General Manager

Withdrawal of Legal Tender Character of existing ₹ 500/- and ₹ 1000/- Bank Notes by Kapil Dev Saggi on Scribd