Much has been done lately by EPFO to introduce serious reforms to improve the efficiency and accessibility of services offered to members and employers.
Simplification of Claim Settlement Process
With respect to claim settlement acceleration, EPFO does not require members to upload photographs of the cheque leaves or answers of the attested bank passbooks while filing online claims. In such cases, bank account verification given with the Universal Account Number (UAN) is already enough, thus creating ease from documentation and minimizing rejection of claims due to blurry uploads for such images. This is likely to benefit almost 60 million members directly.
Seeding of Bank Accounts Made Easy
Circumventing employer approval in the bank account seeding for UAN was done by EPFO as well. Previously, the employer approval was sought after bank verification was done, causing a delay of an average of about 13 days. By removing this step, the process is fastened, giving over 14.95 lakh members, whose bank accounts were in pending approval, direct benefit.
Instant PF Withdrawals through UPI and ATMs
By 2025 June, the EPFO intends to facilitate instant withdrawals of Provident Fund (PF) via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), permitting members to withdraw instantaneously up to ₹1 lakh at the time of need. With this, balance checks via UPI followed immediately, and fund transfer will also be enabled to the person’s choice of bank account.
Implementation of the Centralized Pension Payment System (CPPS)
The EPFO has established full implementation of CPPS in all field offices. This allows pensioners to receive pension funds from any bank across the nation without transferring Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) when moving or changing banks. The CPPS is aimed at enabling seamless pension disbursement and to simplify administration.
Increase in EPFO Membership
In January 2025, EPFO reported a net addition of 17.89 lakh members, an increase of 11.48% in comparison to the previous month. Notably, around 8.23 lakh new subscribers were being added, with approximately 57% of these additions falling in the 18-25 age brackets. This trend depicts a rising awareness and participation of the younger workforce towards an ever-important goal of securing one’s financial future with the EPFO scheme.
These trends signify the concerted application of technology and policy reforms leveraged by the EPFO to serve benefits and, thus, a higher degree of convenience and financial security for the members and pensioners.
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