Ramesh Krishnamurthi, Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), on Saturday, 30 May said India is undergoing a transformative phase in labour governance and social security administration, as the government moves to equip professionals with the skills needed to navigate the country's rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. His remarks came at the launch of an inaugural executive development programme in Gandhinagar, co-organised by EPFO and Gujarat National Law University (GNLU).

Programme Launch and Institutional Collaboration

The Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya National Academy of Social Security (PDUNASS) and EPFO, in collaboration with GNLU, launched the inaugural batch of the Executive Development Programme on 'Labour Laws and Social Security Compliance (EPFO at Core)'. The initiative is designed as a practice-oriented learning programme that bridges the gap between legal understanding, regulatory compliance, and real-world implementation.

According to the Labour Ministry, the programme aims to equip professionals to handle the increasingly complex compliance environment emerging in the post-Labour Codes era — particularly following the enactment of the Code on Social Security, 2020.

What Krishnamurthi Said

Krishnamurthi underscored that compliance today extends well beyond statutory obligations. He described it as a cornerstone of responsible governance, ethical employment practices, institutional credibility, and sustainable organisational growth. Organisations that invest in robust compliance frameworks, he noted, contribute not only to worker welfare and social protection but also to trust, transparency, productivity, and industrial harmony.

He also highlighted EPFO's ongoing digital transformation, citing Aadhaar-enabled services, Universal Account Number (UAN) integration, digital compliance platforms, online service delivery mechanisms, and technology-driven governance reforms as markers of the organisation's modernisation push.

Why This Matters for India's Labour Ecosystem

India's four Labour Codes — consolidating 29 central labour laws — represent the most sweeping overhaul of the country's labour regulatory framework in decades. The Code on Social Security, 2020, in particular, has broadened the scope of social protection to include gig and platform workers, demanding a new breed of compliance professionals who can operate at the intersection of law, technology, and administration.

This is the broader context in which the PDUNASS-GNLU programme is positioned — not merely as an academic exercise, but as a direct response to a documented skills gap in labour law implementation across public and private sector organisations.

Academic and Government Voices

Kumar Rohit, Director of PDUNASS, described the launch as a defining milestone and the culmination of sustained collaboration between the academy and GNLU. Prof (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar, Director of GNLU, called the programme a pioneering example of meaningful academia-industry collaboration, noting that contemporary labour governance demands professionals who can integrate legal knowledge with practical implementation skills.

What Comes Next

With the inaugural batch now underway, the programme is expected to serve as a model for similar capacity-building initiatives across other law universities and professional institutions. Krishnamurthi expressed confidence that the platform — bringing together government, academia, and industry — would help address emerging compliance challenges as India's social security architecture continues to evolve.