An internal document, shared with the board of trustees of the EPFO for approval, shows the retirement fund body estimates a total contribution of ₹3.80 lakh crore in 2026-27 compared with ₹3.38 lakh crore initially budgeted for 2025-26. Compared with the revised estimate of ₹3.51 lakh crore for the ongoing fiscal year, the projection is 8.06% higher for FY27.
The government is eyeing formal job creation of 29 million youth in two years between FY26 and FY28 under PM VBRY, which will cost ₹1.07 lakh crore in incentives given to employers and employees.
Of this, contribution under the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme is expected to be ₹2.99 lakh crore, which is 14.27% higher than the budgeted estimate of ₹2.62 lakh crore for 2025-26 or 12.07% more than the revised estimate of ₹2.67 lakh crore.
This is despite the fact that the retirement fund body foresees a dip in contribution under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS).The 2026-27 budget estimates for EPS contribution is ₹76,519.21 crore, which is 5.29% below the ₹80,793 crore revised projection and 5.99% above the initial budget estimate of ₹72,193.93 crore for 2025-26.
The budget estimates 2026-27 for Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme contribution is ₹4,364.77 crore-9.75% above the revised estimate of ₹3,976.93 crore or 8.67% more than the ₹4,016.59 crore budgeted for 2025-26.
The budget estimates of EPFO were recently presented to its board members for approval. Once the estimates are cleared by the board of trustees, they will be presented for sanction to the central government. The EPF scheme accounts for 78.7% of the total contribution, followed by EPS at 20.1%. The EDLI scheme has only a 1.15% share in the total.
The EPFO had seen net enrolment of 20.7 million subscribers in 2024-25 and 8.19 million in the first four months (April-July) of 2025-26. After the launch of PM VBRY in August 2025, the labour ministry withheld the monthly enrolment data to help the retirement fund body factor in the surge in addition of subscribers.
Under Scheme A of PM VBRY, the government will reimburse one month’s wage, up to ₹15,000 in three instalments, as a subsidy to those entering the workforce for the first time.