EOBI is a welfare-oriented institution and is planning to further expand its network throughout the country from its current 37 regional and 70 field offices for providing social security to all persons in service in Pakistan.

This was said by Syed Iqbal Haider Zaidi, Director General, Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) while speaking at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He was giving detailed briefing to businessmen about the key features of EOBI services.

He said EOBI is now providing number portability facility which means that an employee’s EOBI number will remain the same for contribution even though he may change may employers.

He said 30 Lac employees are currently registered with EOBI while 360,000 are getting pension benefits. He said EOBI covers all those industrial and commercial enterprises having five or more employees. However, those businesses who have less than 5 employees can also voluntarily registered with EOBI.

He said as per EOBI Act 1076, every eligible employer is responsible to get registered its employees with EOBI within one month of their employment. He said after July 2008, 15 years insured employment is required to become eligible for pension benefit of Rs.2000 minimum and Rs.4200 maximum monthly pension.

Syed Iqbal Zaidi said EOBI services are playing significant role in alleviating poverty as millions of families are getting financial support from this institution. He said all eligible business entities should get their employees registered with EOBI to provide them financial cushion in their old age.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Zahid Maqbool, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said employees of the most valuable asset of an organization and urged the businessmen to protect this asset by getting them registered with EOBI.

said that focus of EOBI’s efforts is mostly on collection of contribution and it should launch proper awareness about its services in employees as majority of them in private sector is still unaware about how to benefit from EOBI’s services.

He said that a committee comprising representatives of EOBI and ICCI should be constituted to resolve EOBI related issues of businessmen. He said before initiating legal action against any employer in Islamabad, ICCI should be taken on board to resolve matters with mutual efforts.