Overview
Karmachari Sanachaya Kosh (Employees Provident Fund - EPF), (Nepali: कर्मचारी सञ्चय कोष) was established in 1944 as a Nijamati Provident Fund. The EPF is managed Provident Fund (PF) in Nepal on behalf of the Government of Nepal for government, public and private sector employees and comes under the Ministry of Finance.
The EPF approved the retirement fund of Government of Nepal (GoN), and the Provident Fund (PF) that it manages is supposed to help its contributors financially on retirement or separation from their jobs. Besides managing the Provident Fund of our contributors, It also provides certain social benefits to our contributors.
Membership to EPF is also open to private sector firms with the only condition that such firms should have at least 10 (ten) employees contributing regularly to become a member.
History of Provident Fund in Nepal:
In Nepal, the history of the Provident Fund dates back to 1934 when the Provident Fund scheme came into existence with the establishment of Sainik Drabya Kosh (Army Provident Fund) during the Rana Regime. The scheme was initiated with the intention of removing financial hardships to the army personnel after their retirement. Under the scheme, the army staff was required to contribute a specific percentage of their salary to their provident fund (Sanchaya Kosh) account in Sainik Drabya Kosh. A decade later the scheme was broadened to cover the employees of civil services as well.
A separate organization named Nijamati Provident Fund (NPF) was established in 1944 to manage the scheme for civil servants working within Kathmandu. In 1948 the coverage of the scheme was extended to provide coverage to the entire civil servants working throughout Nepal. In 1959, the Employees Provident Fund Department was established under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs. This department was entrusted with the management of both Sainik Drabya Kosh and the Nijamati Provident Fund. With this, the scope of the scheme was extended to cover all government employees including the police.
Three years after the establishment of the EPF Department, a special Act called the "Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh Act" was legislated in the year 1962. The Karmachari Sanchayakosh was established under the act as an autonomous provident fund organization.
After the establishment of KSK the erstwhile Sainik Drabya Kosh, Nijamati Provident Fund and Provident Fund Department were merged into Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh. Since then Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh (KSK) has grown by leaps and bounds and today it stands as strong social security providing organization in Nepal.
