evidence: Government will pay the 12 per cent of wages to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contribution on behalf of new employees in all sections for the next three years. The decision was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his Union Budget presentation in Lok Sabha on Thursday. Mr. Jaitley also said the Employees Provident Fund Act will be amended to reduce contribution of women to eight per cent from 12 per cent with no change in employer’s contribution. This would effectively mean women employees will be able to get a higher take-home pay. According to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), 36.8 lakh new members in the age group of 18-25 years were added as of November 2017.