For many salaried employees, seeing a larger salary credited to their bank account every month sounds like an obvious win.
But under the government's proposal to make Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) contributions above the statutory ₹1,800 per month voluntary, choosing a higher take-home salary could also mean giving up lakhs or even crores of retirement savings over the course of a career.
The proposal, announced as part of the draft Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme, is aimed at giving eligible employees greater flexibility over how much they contribute to EPF. However, experts caution that flexibility should not be mistaken for a universally better financial choice.
