Today (April 3) Retirement Fund Organization (EPFO) today (April 3), a Provident Fund Organization for Employees (EPFO), has announced that EPFO members seeking to withdraw from Provident Fund online will not need to upload images of cancelled checks and that their bank accounts will not be required to be verified by their employer.
“EPFO completely omits the requirement to upload check leaf or certified bank aisle images during online billing. This requirement was first relaxed on a pilot basis of certain KYC-established members since it was launched on May 28, 2024.
The move is expected to quickly track the claim settlement process for nearly eight members and facilitate the employer’s business.
What is the current EPF withdrawal process?
Currently, members of the Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) are required to upload a photo copy of a proven photo that has passed through a bank account using a UAN (Universal Account Number) or PF Number while applying for the fund withdrawal from the PF account online. Employers must also approve the applicant’s bank account details.
These requirements were initially relaxed on a pilot basis for specific KYC configuration members. Since the pilot was launched on May 28, 2024, the move has already benefited EPF members of 1.7 krole. Following the success of the pilot, EPFO is expanding this relaxation to all members, the ministry said.
Adding that this additional document is no longer necessary as the bank account has already been verified with UAN at the time of sowing the bank account, this will eliminate the possibility of a claim denial due to insufficient/unreadable uploads and alleviate related complaints.
During the fiscal year 2024-25, 1.3 Krull members will submit requests to seed their bank accounts and requests after matching their respective bank/NPCI will be approved by their employer through DSC/E-Sign. Approximately 36,000 requests for sowing bank accounts are raised by members every day, and it can be seen that banks take an average of three days to complete their verification.
However, after bank account verification, the average time an employer takes to approve the process is about 13 days, resulting in accumulation of workloads at the employer level, resulting in delayed seeding of members’ bank accounts.
Of the 7.74 members who currently contribute monthly, already 4.83 crore members have seeded UAN into their bank accounts with approval of Rs 149.5 lakh at the employer level.
As the need for employer approval is no longer necessary, this immediately benefits the 14.95 million members with approval pending to employers.
According to the statement, the simplified process will encourage those who want to change their already seeded bank account by entering their new bank account number, along with an IFSC code officially authenticated through Aadhaar-based OTP.
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