HRDF mulls extending levy to include agriculture sector

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) is mulling expanding the employers’ levy to include the agriculture sector as well as segments of the services sector that are not contributing to it currently.
“Right now we are looking into how we can expand our coverage. This is still in discussion, so we will release the information as we firm up,” said the fund’s chief strategy officer Lim Kah Cheng (pix).
“We want to see how we can make the fund accessible to more industries in the services and manufacturing sector.(As for the) manufacturing sector, they are supposed to register with us, as for services not all are registered with us.
Agriculture is not under our First Schedule and right now we are exploring the idea of expanding the coverage ,” he added.
Lim said HRDF has engaged with the Performance Management and Delivery Unit and is looking at the possibility of widening the levy’s coverage.
Currently, the levy covers subsectors from the manufacturing, services and the mining and quarry sectors.
Firms registered with HRDF with more than 10 employers are subject to a levy amounting to 1% of their employees’ monthly wages whereas those with between five and nine employees are subject to a 0.5% levy.
According to Lim, HRDF collects about RM500 million in levies annually. The fund’s CEO Vignaesvaran Jeyandran reportedly said the fund collected RM700 million last year and the same amount was disbursed.
HRDF uses 70% of the levies collected for training grants while 30% is channelled into a consolidated pool fund.
Lim was speaking at the launch of the Oxford Leadership 4.0 Immersive Learning Lab for Corporations developed in partnership with Malaysian training provider
K-Pintar Sdn Bhd.
The programme consists of a five-day residential module at Oxford Saïd’s executive education facilities in Oxford, the UK, and caters to senior business leaders from large corporations.
The lab, which focuses on Industry Revolution 4.0, will feature a combination of interactive classes, discussions, group work and facilitation, and is expected to be conducted twice a year. The organisers are looking to attract some 30 participants from Malaysia and Asean.