Kolkata: Come end-May and Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) could take the final step in the journey from its fuddy duddy avatar to a modern, tech-savvy organisation with pensioners and EPFO members being allowed to access their funds through the UPI route, Labour and Employment Secretary Sumita Dawra said.
“EPFO currently has around 7.5 crore active members who maintain their PF accounts and contribute towards their pension. We have undertaken significant work in this regard,” reports said quoting the bureaucrat. Dawra affirmed that if an EPFO member has a claim below or upto Rs 1 lakh, the claims have been automated already. The next step of the government is to integrate UPI into the system for a perfect modern way of transaction for many.
Last stage work
“After conducting the necessary testing, we expect to roll out the UPI front end for EPFO claims by the end of May,” the labour secretary also said. Currently, the EPFO authorities are working on how to implement the integration following suggestions on the matter from the National Payments Corporation of India. She remarked that the it could take two-three weeks for the centralised database to stablise before the rollout.
EPFO money through ATM
Significantly, EPFO members will get another eagerly-awaited service upgrade soon when the EPFO 3.0 will be launched that will enable them to withdraw EPFO funds from banks ATMs with the help of their UAN (Universal Account Number). Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had said earlier in March that this service was going to be launched before long. “In the coming days, EPFO will become equivalent to a bank. You won’t need to visit EPFO offices or your employer. It’s your money, and you can withdraw it whenever you want,” the minister had said.
The EPFO subscriber base is an important indicator of the employment generation scenario in India since it is a reflection of the organised sector employment. In the first month of 2025, as many as 17.89 lakh net members were added to the EPFO subscriber base. It marked a 11.67% rise compared to the figures in January 2024 and 11.48% rise in net additions against December 2024.
Linking EPFO funds with UPI and enabling EPFO subscribers to withdraw their money through ATMs will mark two major leaps of the once fuddy duddy EPFO into the digital age providing seamless service at the fingertips of members and pensioners. Personal Finance Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
