look news india
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) is going to implement the most revolutionary change ever in its system for more than 6 crore salaried employees and provident fund account holders of the country. Under this digital transformation project named ‘EPFO 3.0’, the entire process of PF claim, withdrawal, balance check and account transfer is being made fast, transparent and completely paperless like modern banking. Now employees will not need to wait for weeks for their deposited money, fill Form 31, 19 or 10C or go through the process of getting the digital signature of the employer. Through modern UPI and ATM technology, PF funds can be accessed directly from mobile and debit card.
The biggest and most awaited feature of EPFO 3.0 is UPI and ATM based withdrawal facility. Under this arrangement, eligible members will be able to get real-time transfer of their withdrawable balance directly to their bank account by authenticating their UPI PIN by visiting Umang App or EPFO portal. Additionally, the option to withdraw emergency cash by entering your UAN and OTP at specially enabled ATMs and kiosks is also being provided.
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25% minimum balance rule: Keeping retirement security in mind, employees will be able to withdraw only 50% to 75% of their total PF balance in advance or emergency. A minimum of 25% of the total PF fund will always be compulsorily reserved in the account, which can be withdrawn only on retirement at the age of 58 years or in case of being unemployed for 2 consecutive months.
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No impact on pension: This withdrawal facility will be applicable only on the EPF share of the employee and the employer; The funds of the Employee Pension Scheme (EPS-95) have been kept completely separate and safe from it.
EPFO has directly increased the limit for IT-enabled Automatic Claim Settlement (Auto-Settlement) to ₹5 lakh from the earlier ₹1 lakh.
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Approval without human intervention: If the member’s UAN is fully linked to Aadhaar, PAN and the correct bank account (KYC Compliant), then advance claims up to ₹ 5 lakh related to medical emergency, higher education, marriage and house construction will be automatically approved by the computer algorithm without getting stuck at the level of any clerk or officer.
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Transfer in 3 days: Almost 95% of claims covered under auto-settlement will be credited to the member’s bank account within a maximum of 2 to 3 working days of application.
Earlier, while changing companies, employees had to fill ‘Form 13’ and get attestation from the old or new company to transfer the money from their old PF account to the PF account of the new company. This has been completely automated in EPFO 3.0.
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As soon as the new employer deposits the first monthly contribution (ECR) on your existing UAN, the system will automatically transfer the entire balance and service history of your old account to the new account from the central database.
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There will be no need for the member to make a separate online transfer claim or visit the companies, which will eliminate service breaks and discrepancies in pension calculations.
EPFO has made ‘Face Authentication Technology’ (FAT) mandatory along with password and simple OTP to prevent fraud and fake claims.
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Biometric Face Recognition: Now UAN generation of new employees and UAN activation of old members will be completed through face authentication through UMANG app.
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This will eliminate the scope for cyber fraud, unauthorized bank account change or linking fake mobile numbers with the PF account of any employee and will also facilitate elderly pensioners to submit Digital Life Certificate (DLC).
EPFO has rationalized complex rules to further simplify the claim process:
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3 easy categories: Earlier there were 13 different complex categories and rules for withdrawing PF, which have now been consolidated into 3 main groups (Essential Life Necessities, Housing/Property and Final Withdrawal). Partial withdrawal has been allowed up to 5 times for marriage and 10 times for education during the service period.
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WhatsApp Chatbot Service: EPFO has launched a dedicated and verified WhatsApp helpline, where members can get real-time information about their passbook, claim status and balance 24×7 in the local language by sending ‘Hello’.
To seamlessly avail these superfast digital services of EPFO 3.0, account holders need to fulfill some basic technical requirements:
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Keep your UAN active and keep the active mobile number registered in it.
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Keep Aadhaar card and PAN card verified (KYC verified) on the UAN portal to avoid TDS deduction.
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Bank account details (account number and IFSC) should be correctly updated and digitally approved by the bank.