EPFO eyes strong presence in Latin America and Africa

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation is proposing to set up consultancy offices and service centres in Latin America and Africa, as it seeks to expand its footprint outside the country. It is also looking to rope in global experts to help it become a leaner organisation.

A top government official told ET that the EPFO is looking to align itself with international benchmarks and a detailed roadmap has been drawn up for the next two-and-a-half decades to enable it to become a global social security provider.

"By 2037, EPFO aims to have a strong presence and service centres in Asia and the Pacific followed by setting up consultancy offices in Latin America and Africa," the official said.


The idea is to help smaller countries to develop their own social security for their workers, much on the lines of the Indian social security system, which has been successfully established over the last 70 years, the official added.

The long-term vision for EPFO has been approved at the top level and discussions will be held with stakeholders.

The EPFO's central board of trustees, headed by the labour minister and having representatives of employers as well as employees, is the key decision-making body for the retirement funds body and any major revamp will require the approval of the CBT.

As per the plan, EPFO will set up specialised pillars for each functional area with convergence at top level to ensure macro level synchronisation of policy vision.

Further, EPFO will work towards transitioning itself to a leaner and flatter organisation and rope in subject experts from outside including global experts as it opens up to lateral hiring to help build up a globally-benchmarked expert system.