GETTING IT RIGHT

THE EMPLOYEES' PROVIDENT FUND ORGANISATION HAS BEEN WORKING ON SEVERAL INITIATIVES OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS TO ENSURE A SMOOTHER EXPERIENCE FOR ITS SUBSCRIBERS. IT IS NOW TAKING THAT A STEP FURTHER WITH ITS NEXT SET OF REFORMS

- SURABHI

FOR YEARS, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been seen as a lethargic entity with labyrinthine processes, which often resulted in requests from its over 300 million members being rejected or delayed.

But over the past two years, it has made a concerted effort to iron out these wrinkles and help subscribers access their savings in time. In October, the Central Board of Trustees, chaired by Union Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, simplified the partial withdrawal provisions by merging 13 categories into three broad headings—essential needs such as illness, education and marriage; housing; and special circumstances.

Now, the EPFO is working on automating transfers, which remain a sore point for subscribers, says Central Provident Fund Commissioner Ramesh Krishnamurthi. He adds that one of the key areas of focus will be those still holding PF accounts from before 2017 when Unique Account Numbers (UANs) and Aadhaar were not linked with each other. The EPFO is also consolidating its multiple databases under the Centralised IT Enabled System (CITES) plan, which will enable faster processing of claims.

“The focus of our reforms has been to do away with manual interventions, discretion, and unnecessary or redundant processes,” Krishnamurthi tells BT. He says measures like scrapping the need for uploading a cheque leaf or attested copy of the bank passbook for online claims and approval from employer for transferring a PF account have already led to faster claims processing.

About 30 million claims have been filed without the cheque leaves being approved and 3.5-4 million transfers have occurred without employer approval. Simplification of joint declaration has also led to a reduction in the number of grievances, he notes.