SHG Fund Contributions: CDAC, MBMF, SINDA & ECF (Singapore Employers)

The self-help group (SHG) funds — CDAC, MBMF, SINDA and ECF — are small monthly contributions deducted from a working person's wages, by community, and remitted to the CPF Board together with CPF. They are the employee's contribution, not yours, and they are auto-deducted by default unless the employee opts out (CPF Board).

Last reviewed 4 June 2026 · Source: CPF Board and the respective funds. Contribution bands are revised periodically — confirm current rates before relying on them.

What the four funds are

Each major community in Singapore runs a self-help group that funds education, training, bursaries and family assistance for its own community, financed partly by a monthly contribution from its working members (CPF Board). CDAC serves the Chinese community, MBMF the Malay/Muslim community, SINDA the Indian community, and ECF the Eurasian community.

The contribution is tiny next to CPF — a few dollars a month — but it is a standing payroll obligation, and getting the fund or the band wrong is the kind of small, recurring error that is tedious to unwind months later.

Who contributes to which fund

The fund follows the employee's community, but the residency rules differ fund to fund — this is the part employers most often get wrong.

Fund	Who contributes
CDAC	Chinese Citizens and PRs
MBMF	Muslim employees — Citizens, PRs, and foreigners (Employment Pass and Work Permit)
SINDA	Indian Citizens, PRs and Employment Pass holders
ECF	Eurasian Citizens and PRs

MBMF is the broadest: it applies to Muslim employees regardless of nationality, because it is based on religion — so a foreign Muslim worker contributes where a foreign worker of another community does not (CPF Board). SINDA reaches Employment Pass holders but not Work Permit holders. CDAC and ECF are Citizens and PRs only.

Genuine contractors are outside the SHG funds entirely. Someone engaged under a contract for service pays no CPF, and the funds are collected through the CPF channel — no CPF means no SHG path, the same way SDL and CPF themselves drop away for a true freelancer (CPF Board).

How much each fund costs

Every fund is banded by monthly wage — the more the employee earns, the higher the fixed contribution, up to a ceiling. These are the current bands (CPF Board and the respective funds):

CDAC (Chinese)

Monthly wage	Contribution
Up to $2,000	$0.50
$2,000.01 to $3,500	$1.00
$3,500.01 to $5,000	$1.50
$5,000.01 to $7,500	$2.00
Above $7,500	$3.00

MBMF (Malay/Muslim)

Monthly wage	Contribution
Up to $1,000	$3.00
$1,000.01 to $2,000	$4.50
$2,000.01 to $3,000	$6.50
$3,000.01 to $4,000	$15.00
$4,000.01 to $6,000	$19.50
$6,000.01 to $8,000	$22.00
$8,000.01 to $10,000	$24.00
Above $10,000	$26.00

SINDA (Indian)

Monthly wage	Contribution
Up to $1,000	$1.00
$1,000.01 to $1,500	$3.00
$1,500.01 to $2,500	$5.00
$2,500.01 to $4,500	$7.00
$4,500.01 to $7,500	$9.00
$7,500.01 to $10,000	$12.00
$10,000.01 to $15,000	$18.00
Above $15,000	$30.00

ECF (Eurasian)

Monthly wage	Contribution
Up to $1,000	$2.00
$1,000.01 to $1,500	$4.00
$1,500.01 to $2,500	$6.00
$2,500.01 to $4,000	$9.00
$4,000.01 to $7,000	$12.00
$7,000.01 to $10,000	$16.00
Above $10,000	$20.00

The bands are not aligned across funds — MBMF tops out at $26.00 a month, SINDA at $30.00 — so you cannot apply one fund's logic to another. Read each employee against their own fund's table.

Worked example: a Chinese employee earning $4,000 a month contributes $1.50 to CDAC, while a Muslim employee on the same $4,000 contributes $19.50 to MBMF. Same wage, very different deduction — the community fund, not the salary, drives most of the gap, which is why the fund has to be set correctly per employee.

It is the employee's money, and they can opt out

SHG contributions come out of the employee's wages, not on top of them. Unlike the employer's CPF share, this is not an added cost to you — your job is simply to deduct the right band and remit it.

The contributions are auto-deducted by default, but they are technically voluntary: an employee can opt out by applying directly to their fund, and you stop deducting once the fund confirms it (CPF Board). A mixed-heritage employee can instead elect to contribute to a second fund. Do not action either change on a verbal request — wait for the fund's confirmation, so your payroll matches what the fund expects and you are not deducting money you should not.

How you pay it

You do not remit the SHG funds separately. They are collected in the same CPF EZPay submission as CPF and the Skills Development Levy, against the same CPF Submission Number, by the same 14th-of-the-month deadline (CPF Board). Once your first CPF submission is set up, the SHG deduction rides along with it.

Check each employee's community and wage band when you onboard them, then leave it — the band only moves when their wage crosses a threshold. Revisit it only at a pay rise that crosses a band, or when an employee tells you their fund election has changed. Get it right once and it is the quietest line on your payroll.