Search interest for auto settlement provident fund claims has surged on Google Trends over the last few days after the retirement fund body EPFO announced plans to automate retirement fund withdrawals and PF account transfers. Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) members face a delay in withdrawal of money for emergencies, and in order to fix this issue for around 7 Cr members, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has improved its auto settlement system for provident fund claims to make the withdrawal process faster and reduce manual handling.

Under the auto-settlement mechanism, the eligible PF withdrawal claims are processed automatically by the system without manual verification by EPFO officials. This significantly reduces processing times and means that many subscribers can get their money within a few days rather than weeks.

In a big relief to crores of salaried employees, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) last week announced that it is planning to automate full or final provident fund (PF) withdrawal claims, in a bid to reduce delays, paperwork and manual intervention in the settlement process. The same was announced by Central Provident Fund Commissioner Ramesh Krishnamurthi at ASSOCHAM’s National Seminar on New Labour Codes. The proposed reforms will make PF withdrawal faster and seamless for the EPFO subscribers.

Auto-settlement facility to expand to final PF withdrawals 

Currently, EPFO provides auto-settlement only for advance or partial withdrawal claims up to Rs 5 lakh. Claims are generally processed within three days if the member’s KYC, Aadhaar, PAN and bank details are verified properly. But during the announcement, EPFO said it plans to broaden this automated process to final PF withdrawals as well. 

This means retirement-related withdrawal claims may soon be automatically processed with no manual screening, helping members access their funds more quickly. The EPFO commissioner said the organisation is moving to the extent possible towards auto-settlement of final withdrawals.

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Automatic PF account transfer on job change 

Another big announcement made is the proposed automation of the PF account transfer when employees switch jobs. Currently, employees have to fill out transfer requests or forms to transfer PF balances from the old employer account to the new. 

Under the new system, EPFO will auto-transfer PF accounts to the latest employer-linked account. The EPFO commissioner said members may not have to fill out transfer forms separately as the system will make an effort to transfer accounts automatically.

New labour code framework and EPFO changes 

The EPFO also said more notifications regarding the provident fund schemes will be issued soon under the new labour code framework notified by the government. The Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952, Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976 and Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 are also likely to be renotified under the revised legal framework. The reforms will simplify the compliance requirements, standardize processes and strengthen operational efficiency for both employers and employees, officials said.