Employee Provident Fund, Pension and Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 2026

On 29 June 2026, the Ministry of Labour & Employment reshaped the foundation of India’s provident-fund system. Through three Gazette notifications it brought into force the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 2026, the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 2026, and the Employees’ Deposit-Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme, 2026 — all under the Code on Social Security, 2020. Together they supersede the schemes that had governed retirement savings, pensions and death-in-service insurance for decades: the EPF Scheme of 1952, the pension scheme of 1995 (and the older Family Pension Scheme of 1971), and the EDLI Scheme of 1976. For the millions of members and lakhs of establishments in the EPFO system, this is the most significant structural overhaul in a generation.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 2026

• Contribution rates are unchanged — 12% each for employer and employee (10% for notified classes of establishments).
• The most visible change for members is how partial withdrawals, or ‘advances’, work. The old scheme carried a long, purpose-specific list — separate rules and waiting periods for housing, home-loan repayment, illness, marriage and education, with minimum-service requirements ranging from none to ten years. The 2026 scheme consolidates these into a few clear heads — illness, education and marriage; housing; and special circumstances — with a uniform 12-month eligibility for almost all of them.
• In exchange for that simplicity, a new safeguard applies: at least 25% of the total corpus (your and your employer’s contributions plus interest) must remain in the account after any partial withdrawal. In short, advances become easier to access, but the account can no longer be emptied through them.
• Other notable changes: the Central Government may now notify a separate employee contribution rate — the employee share no longer has to mirror the employer’s; voluntary contributions above the wage ceiling are formally recognised, with employer matching optional; and the member experience is fully digital — e-nomination, an electronic pass book, and a consolidated employer return (Form V) due within 15 days of the scheme applying.

The Employees’ Pension Scheme, 2026

• EPS 2026 unifies the pension landscape by replacing both the 1995 pension scheme and the 1971 Family Pension Scheme. The familiar benefits carry over: a minimum of ten years’ service to qualify for pension, a Scheme Certificate for those who leave earlier, the ₹1,000 minimum monthly pension, and the full range of family, widow, children’s, orphan and disability pensions.
• The most consequential change is legal clarity on higher pension. For years, entitlement to pension on wages above the statutory ceiling was governed by a patchwork of Supreme Court rulings and administrative circulars, leaving employers and members uncertain. EPS 2026 writes higher-pension provisions into the scheme itself — a welcome step towards certainty. Alongside this, the scheme introduces formal investment rules and the same 20-day claim-settlement discipline seen across the trio.

The Employees’ Deposit-Linked Insurance Scheme, 2026

• EDLI is the life-insurance cover funded entirely by employers, paying a lump sum to a member’s family if the member dies while in service. Here, the numbers hold steady: the assurance benefit remains in the ₹2.5 lakh to ₹7 lakh band, and the calculation — 35 times average monthly wages plus a share of the average balance — is unchanged. There is no employee contribution.
• Instead of a rate fixed in the scheme, the EDLI contribution rate will now be notified by the Government on the basis of periodic actuarial valuation, so employers should watch for the notified figure.
• The fund carries an assured interest floor of 8.5% per annum, and, as with EPF and EPS, claims must be settled within 20 days.
• Establishments running their own group-insurance arrangements in place of EDLI will find the exemption route tightened — an IRDAI-approved policy certified as more beneficial, majority-employee consent, a six-month advance application, monthly online returns and a three-year validity, with the employer underwriting the benefit if the insurer defaults.

The Common Thread

Benefits — rates, pensions and payouts — are broadly preserved. The legal foundation shifts decisively to the Code on Social Security, 2020. Administration becomes digital-first, from nomination to claims. Exempted trusts face sharper accountability. And members gain a faster, more enforceable service standard: a 20-day claim window backed by 12% penal interest recoverable from the officer responsible. This is a modernisation of the framework, not a redrawing of the deal.

Please find attached the following gazette documents:

 Employees Pension Scheme 2026

 Employees Depoist Linked Insurance Scheme 2026

  Employees Provident Fund Scheme 2026

 Rate of Interest – EPF

 Gazette notification regarding rate of EDLI contribution 

Gazette notification regarding rate of EPS contribution

Gazette notification regarding rate of EPF contribution