Which Kerala welfare fund boards apply to you?
Kerala runs sixteen separate statutory welfare fund boards. Most employers have never heard of them, most have no working website, and only 2 of the sixteen publishes its rates at all. Pick your sector to see which boards exist for it.
Boards for this sector
Kerala Shops & Commercial Establishments Workers Welfare Fund Board
Board 10 of 16Workers in shops and commercial establishments
Office: Thiruvananthapuram-35No working public website foundKerala Labour Welfare Fund Board
Board 8 of 16Labour generally, under the Kerala Labour Welfare Fund Act
Office: Thiruvananthapuram-1Publishes scheme details online
This tells you which boards exist. It does not tell you what you owe.
Whether a particular establishment is covered, and what the contribution is, turns on the governing scheme for each board. We have deliberately not published rates here, because they could not be verified against the boards’ own instruments — and in this area the third-party figures circulating online conflict with each other and with the boards. For example, the official Kerala Labour Welfare Fund site states a rate per half-year, while several popular sites publish a monthly figure roughly ten times larger, apparently confusing that board with the Shops & Commercial Establishments board above.
Getting this wrong in either direction is expensive: an unregistered employer may owe years of arrears, and an employer who registers with the wrong board has paid for nothing.
Why this is worth checking
- The Shops & Commercial Establishments Workers Welfare Fund Board reaches most private employers in Kerala — offices, shops, hotels, hospitals, schools — and is the one most commonly missed.
- The Building & Other Construction board is funded by the 1% construction cess. If you build, or engage contractors who build, that cess is separate from anything in your payroll.
- National compliance sites and HRMS platforms ignore all sixteen boards. A Kerala-specific review is the only way to be sure.
Want this checked properly?
GHR reviews your establishment against each board that could apply, confirms the position from the board’s own scheme, and handles registration and any arrears.
Source: Kerala Labour Commissionerate, Welfare Fund Boards, lc.kerala.gov.in (page last updated 5 May 2026). Board names, office towns and the count of sixteen are reproduced as the Labour Commissionerate publishes them. The sector descriptions are taken from each board’s own statutory name and are a guide to what the board exists for — they are not a determination that your establishment is covered.