TIRUPPUR: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has constituted three teams to conduct audit in garment export units following complaints that they have stopped contributing to EPFO citing financial stress caused by lack of orders. According to their records, there are more than 5,000 industrial units with 2.83 lakh subscribers in Tiruppur division. More than 90 % of these units are in the garment sector like knitting, compacting, bleaching etc.
Sathish, a garment worker said, “I am a permanent employee drawing salary of Rs 17,000. A sum of Rs 540 is deducted from my salary as employee contribution and the employer has to contribute an equal amount. The company did not receive any significant orders and my employer decided to reduce the workforce. For the past eight months, we had just four export orders instead of 20 orders. My owner was trapped and he started to delay the salary payment. Though we didn’t feel the pinch, we found out that he stopped contributing to the PF for the past six months.”
Tiruppur Exporters and Manufacturer Association (TEAMA) president M P Muthurathinam said, “Global issues have landed the garment industry in a financial mess for the last one year. Particularly, the war in Ukraine has caused problems to importing countries in Europe and US.”
Speaking to TNIE, an official from Employees Provident Fund Organisation (Tiruppur) said, “Since we have a small team of three enforcement officers, we have decided to inspect top defaulters. Based on the report, a detailed inquiry will be launched. Continuous default will result in a recovery procedure through respective banks offering financial support to these companies.”