Eligibility criteria for life cover under EPFO scheme eased

The labour and employment ministry on Friday notified relaxed criteria for subscribers of the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

As per the notification, the beneficiary family will be eligible for a minimum assurance benefit of ₹50,000 in the event of death of an employee even if the employee's average provident fund balance is less than ₹50,000. Further, for the purpose of determining the continuous period of 12 months required for eligibility of minimum assurance benefits payable under the scheme, the gap of up to 60 days between two spells of employment will be ignored and such multiple services will be added, being treated as continuous service, it said. "In the event an employee who is a member of the Fund or of a provident fund exempted under section 17 of the Act, as the case may be, dies in service within six months of the last contribution received while still being on the rolls of the employer, such an employee shall get the assurance benefit as per the Scheme,"it said.