Let me tell you a story that’ll probably resonate with you if you’re in HR. A company in Bangalore had around 150 employees and a solid HR team. Everything seemed fine. But one day, the Labour Commissioner showed up for inspection. Within an hour, the HR manager discovered they hadn’t updated PF deductions after a […]
A Gurugram-based logistics company was expanding and needed a working capital loan. The bank asked for three months of salary slips for all 28 employees as part of the credit appraisal. The HR manager sent what the company had been issuing a basic Excel sheet showing employee name, gross salary, and net pay. The bank […]
You have left your job to start a business. Now you need to withdraw your EPF balance to fund the startup. Alternatively, you are facing a medical emergency and need immediate access to your provident fund. Or perhaps you recently changed jobs and want to understand the best way to handle your PF settlement. Whatever […]
An employee at a logistics company in Noida checked his PF balance in March 2026 and found that three months of contributions were missing. He had been working for the company for four years. His employer had been deducting PF from his salary every month — but the ECR (Electronic Challan cum Return) had been […]
It is the first week of June. Your payroll team is processing the last batch of year-end work. Three employees have already messaged HR asking when their Form 16 will be ready — one has a home loan application pending that needs it immediately. Your Q4 TDS return (Form 24Q), which must be filed before […]
Every month, HR teams across India handle PF-related queries from employees and since October 2025, many of those queries have become harder to answer. The PF withdrawal rules 2026 are fundamentally different from what they were just a year ago. EPFO’s Central Board of Trustees overhauled the entire framework in its 238th meeting: 13 confusing […]
From 1 April 2026, the Income Tax Act, 1961 is no longer the governing law for new transactions. Every salary credited, every contractor payment made, and every professional fee processed from that date falls under the Income Tax Act, 2025. For businesses, this is not a cosmetic update. The entire TDS and TCS framework has […]
A 120-worker garment manufacturing unit in Faridabad had been managing payroll in-house for three years without a single government notice, without opting for payroll services for manufacturing. Then a labour inspector visited in January 2026 for a routine check. This situation is not unusual. Manufacturing companies in India face a more complex environment for manage […]
Understanding the ESIC rules for employer can save significant money. Consider this: a recruitment agency in Hyderabad crossed 10 employees in August 2025 when they hired their 10th and 11th team members in the same week. The founder knew about ESI in general but assumed the 10-employee threshold was based on permanent headcount only. Consequently, […]
The Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme provides eligible employees with medical and other social-security benefits through the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). For employers and payroll teams, the ESI salary limit is an important eligibility check—but it must be applied using the relevant statutory definition of wages and the rules that govern coverage. Based on […]
A software services company in Hyderabad set up its second office in January 2026 with 12 employees. The founders assumed the parent company’s existing registration covered the new premises. Three months later, a routine labour inspection revealed that the new establishment had no separate registration under the Telangana Shops and Establishment Act. Consequently, the fine […]
What Does PMVBRY Mean? PMVBRY stands for Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana. It is a Government of India employment-linked incentive scheme implemented through the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The scheme is designed to encourage formal job creation and support eligible first-time employees entering the workforce. It […]
The new salary structure in 2026 requires employers and employees to understand how the definition of wages under India’s Labour Codes can affect salary components and statutory benefits. The most important consideration is not simply the percentage assigned to basic salary. It is how the statutory definition of wages applies to the employee’s remuneration and […]
An HR manager at a 40-person logistics company in Noida recently discovered a serious payroll compliance failure: her company had been deducting PF on basic salary only, not on gross wages as required. The error had been running for 14 months. By the time a compliance audit surfaced it, the arrear on employer contributions alone […]
Here is a real case. A startup in Bengaluru. Eight employees. Eighteen months of operations. No GST issues, PF registered, ESI compliant. Then a routine inspection from the Karnataka Commercial Tax Department — and a notice for ₹14,400 in penalties, interest and arrears. The reason was simple: no professional tax registration, no monthly deductions, no […]