There has been a sharp rise in the number of claims in the past 12 months or so. While the year 2007 saw between 19,000 and 21,000 claims, there were as many as 33,000 this November.

Industry sources say that actual layoffs happened only after September, but the provident fund claims filed by people have been on the rise a few months prior to that.

“The trend has been rising. In 2007, the average number of claims was between 19,000 and 21,000. But in the last few months, the number of claims has risen to 32,000 to 33,000, which is a significant rise,” said EPFO regional commissioner, Francy Joseph.

On the other hand, there has been no significant let-up in the provident fund contribution from companies. “Despite an increasing number of claims, the total contribution from companies every month is also increasing. This suggests that along with layoffs, hiring continues in certain sectors,” he said. Joseph said the number of claims could increase further in the coming months.

The suggestion of lay-offs having started as early as May-June did not augur well with the industry though. Pradeep Bhargava, Maharashtra chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industries said till September, the industry was in the ‘pink of health’. “We knew that the automobile sector was in trouble, but it was because of the bank interest rates. There was attrition with people shifting jobs, but no lay-offs from the companies,” he said, adding that one may have to wait a few more months to see if the number of claims rises. But he agreed that the situation at the moment was ‘very grim’.

Ganesh Natrajan, MD and vice-chairman of Zensar technologies said rising trend of the claims was disturbing. “Export-oriented sectors have taken the biggest hit,” he said.