The Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment - Shobha Karandlaje, has highlighted several steps taken by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in the last 1-2 years.
The steps were shared by Union Minister Karandlaje in a written reply during the Rajya Sabha session. According to the mentioned statement, the changes that will be effective from April 1, 2025 - the beginning of fiscal year 2025-2026, are as follows:
Enhanced auto claim settlement: The amount limit has been increased to ₹1 lakh for auto mode processing of advance claims. Now, auto mode processing will also allow advances in housing, education, and marriage; earlier, it only covered advances in illness/hospitalization.
Under auto mode, 60% of advance claims will be processed within three days.
Simplified PF transfer: From April 1, 2025, the employer’s attestation will not be compulsory for PF transfer claim requests. According to the minister's statement, currently, only 10 percent of transfer claims require employer attestation.
Guidance on ineligible claims: The minister said that EPFO has set up checks to help members know if they can apply for claims. This is to prevent them from submitting claims that are not allowed.
Simplified correction process: The member details correction process has been simplified, according to the minister. Now, the members who have Aadhaar-verified UANs could make the corrections.
Cheque leaf submission will not be important: From April 1, 2025, the individuals will be free from submitting a cheque leaf. The minister was quoted saying, “The requirement for submitting a cheque-leaf with the claim form has also been relaxed for KYC-compliant UANs meeting prescribed criteria.”
The minister said that over 99.31% of claims are now filed online, so members don’t need to visit EPFO offices. As of March 6, 2025, 7.14 crore claims were submitted online in FY 2024-25.
EPFO is also making the claim process easier by centralizing member records under CITES 2.01. Additionally, as part of EPFO 3.0, discussions have been held to make EPFO more advanced, member-focused, and technology-driven.