Payroll Outsourcing

EPFO WAGE CEILING REVISED TO INR 25,000: WHAT THE SEPTEMBER 17, 2026 NOTIFICATION MEANS FOR EMPLOYERS

Notification: S.O. 5109(E), Ministry of Labour and Employment
Dated: 17 September 2026
Effect: Immediate, from the date of publication in the Official Gazette

The Central Government has notified a new wage ceiling of INR 25,000 per month for the purposes of Chapter III (Employees' Provident Fund) of the Code on Social Security, 2020 — up from the INR 15,000 figure that had stood since the Code's contribution framework first came into force. The notification, issued in exercise of powers under Section 2(89) of the Code, supersedes the earlier notification S.O. 2702(E) dated 29 May 2026, which had carried forward the legacy INR 15,000 ceiling from the repealed EPF & MP Act, 1952.

For every payroll and compliance team, this is the single most consequential PF change in over a decade. Here is what it actually does, and how it changes your monthly contribution math.

What Exactly Has Changed

The ceiling is the wage figure used to determine

(a) who is compulsorily covered as an "employee" for EPF/EPS/EDLI purposes, and
(b) the maximum wage on which the statutory EPF & EPS diversion is calculated, unless a joint employer-employee request for contribution on higher wages is already on record.

Who Is Affected

• New joinees drawing wages up to INR 25,000/month must now be enrolled as EPF/EPS/EDLI members — a wider net than before, since anyone between INR 15,000 and INR 25,000 was previously an "excluded employee" unless they opted in voluntarily.
• Existing members continue as members regardless of current wages; only the statutory contribution cap shifts.
• Employees already contributing on wages above INR 25,000 under a Para 26(6) of EPF & MP Act joint request are unaffected in substance — their higher-wage contribution simply now sits above a higher statutory floor.
• Employers will see a small increase in the EPS-bound portion of their contribution for every employee whose wages fall between the old and new ceiling, and a corresponding rise in aggregate remittance obligations.

The Contribution Structure, Unchanged in Method

Nothing about how PF is computed has changed — only the wage figure used as the pension cap. The applicable components remain:

The employer's EPS share is always carved out of its 12% contribution — it is not an additional outlay on top of 12%. What changes is simply that a larger slice of Wages (up to INR 25,000 instead of INR 15,000) is now available for that 8.33% pension diversion.

Sample Calculation — Employee Drawing INR 25,000 (Wages)

Total monthly employer outflow (this employee): EPS INR 2,083 + EPF INR 917 + EDLI INR 125 + Admin INR 125 = INR 3,250 (against INR 3,000 employer PF contribution plus statutory charges), over and above the employee's own INR 3,000 deducted from salary.

Before-and-After: The EPS Impact

The most visible shift is in the pension component, since EPS alone is capped at the ceiling:

For any employee earning INR 25,000 or more in Wages, the statutory pension contribution rises by roughly INR 833 per month per employee — a figure payroll teams will want to build into budget projections immediately, since the notification takes effect from the date of Gazette publication, not from a future date.

Compliance Checklist for Employers

1. Re-run coverage checks — identify existing employee & new joinees with wages between INR 15,000 and INR 25,000 who were previously excluded and now require mandatory enrolment.
2. Update payroll masters to reflect the INR 25,000 EPS/EDLI cap with effect from 17 September 2026 — or from a practically convenient date such as 1 September, if a mid-month split is not feasible in your payroll system (see note below on legal vs. practical dates).
3. Recompute ECR filings for the current wage period to ensure the EPS split reflects the new ceiling from the effective date.
4. Review existing Para 26(6) higher-wage arrangements — these remain valid but should be checked against the new statutory floor.
5. Communicate the change to employees whose net take-home may shift marginally due to the revised employer-side split (this does not change employee deduction, only the internal EPF/EPS allocation on the employer side).
6. Retain the notification on file — S.O. 5109(E) formally supersedes S.O. 2702(E), and inspection/audit trails should reference the correct instrument for the correct period.

Legal Effective Date vs. Practical Payroll Implementation

Strictly read, the notification splits September 2026 into two statutory periods for every establishment: contributions for wages up to 16 September must still be computed on the INR 15,000 ceiling, and contributions from 17 September onward must be computed on the INR 25,000 ceiling. That is the legally correct position, and it is the position an auditor or EPFO inspecting officer will apply if the month is ever scrutinised.

In practice, however, this creates a real operational problem. Most payroll and compliance software is built to run one wage ceiling for an entire wage period — it is not designed to bifurcate a single calendar month into a "first 16 days at INR 15,000" segment and a "last 14 days at INR 25,000" segment for EPS/EDLI purposes. Very few systems can do this cleanly without manual workarounds or off-cycle correction entries.

For this reason, many organisations will find it more workable to implement the revised ceiling from 1 September 2026 for the current wage month, rather than attempting a mid-month split, provided this is a considered internal call rather than a strict legal requirement. This has two practical advantages beyond the payroll-system constraint:

• CTC and appointment letter redesign. Where employers want to use this notification as an opportunity/ compulsion to restructure CTC (for instance, revising the PF-qualifying component or issuing addendum/supplementary letters to employment terms), it is far more workable to anchor that change to the start of a wage month — 1 September — than to an arbitrary mid-month date. Employees cannot practically be told that their CTC structure changes from the 17th of a month; a structural change communicated to a workforce needs a clean date, and the first of the month is the natural anchor.
• Consistency of ECR and reconciliation. Running the whole month on one ceiling avoids split-period ECR filings and keeps the reconciliation between payroll, finance and PF remittance straightforward.

The key point for compliance teams to hold onto: this is a matter of practical implementation, not a change in the legal position. The law is clear that the INR 15,000 ceiling applies through 16 September and the INR 25,000 ceiling applies from 17 September. Choosing to apply the new ceiling from 1 September (or any other administratively convenient date within the month) is a business decision driven by system limitations and CTC-restructuring convenience — it should be documented internally as such, and should never be presented as the legally mandated effective date. If audited, the underlying legal position under S.O. 5109(E) remains 17 September 2026.

This note is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Employers should assess the notification against their specific payroll structures and, where in doubt, seek a formal compliance opinion.

Click here to view the PPT. 

Click here to read the notification.

The Government of Kerala, Labour and Skills (E) Department has revised the variable dearness allowance for employment in Shops and Commercial Establishment and employment in Computer Software Sector. As per the Notification No.DES/1129/2025-P3(1),The Consumer Price Index (Cost of Living Index) Numbers applicable to employees in employment under the Minimum Wages Act (Central Act XI of 1948) for the month of Jun 2026 as ascertained by the Director General of Economics & Statistics under clause (C) of Section 2 of the Act. Please refer press release for more details.