In a bid to make the settlement of provident fund claims easier for members, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced major changes to the withdrawal process.
No need to upload image of cheque leaf
The first change announced by the EPFO is removing the requirement to upload an image of a check leaf or attested bank passbook, the Labour Ministry said in a release.
“EPFO has completely dispensed with the requirement of uploading an image of a cheque leaf or attested bank passbook while filing online claims. This requirement was initially relaxed on a pilot basis for certain KYC-updated members. Since its launch on 28th May, 2024, the move has already benefitted 1.7 crore EPF members,” the ministry said.
Following the successful pilot, EPFO has now extended this relaxation to all members, it said. “As the bank account holder’s name is already verified with the EPF member’s details at the time of bank account seeding with the Universal Account Number (UAN), this additional documentation is no longer necessary.”
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By removing this requirement, EPFO is set to immediately benefit around 6 crore members, eliminating claim rejections due to poor-quality or unreadable uploads and reducing associated grievances.
No need to get employer approval for seeding bank account details with UAN
The second change introduced by the retirement fund body is removal of requirement of employer approval for seeding bank account details with universal account number.
To streamline the process of seeding bank accounts with UAN, the EPFO has now removed the requirement of employer approval after bank verification.
Currently, every member is required to seed their bank account with UAN in order to get their PF withdrawals seamlessly credited to such account.
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During the FY2024-25, 1.3 crore members have submitted their requests for seeding their bank accounts, and the requests after due matching with the respective bank/NPCI are to be approved by the employer through DSC/E-Sign, the ministry said.
During FY 25, 13 million EPFO members submitted their requests for seeding their bank accounts, and the requests after due matching with the respective bank are to be approved by the employer, taking a total of 16 days which results in piling up of workload at the level of the employer and consequent delay in the process.
Out of 77.4 million members who are presently contributing each month, 48.3 million members have seeded their bank accounts in UAN with 1.49 million approvals pending at the level of the employers.