The Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) continues to be a major social security scheme for salaried workers in India.
Managed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the scheme helps employees build retirement savings through monthly contributions from both the employee and employer.
These contributions earn assured interest and grow over time into a sizable retirement corpus. To make the EPFO process smoother, the government has begun rolling out EPFO 3.0 - a series of new reforms in the system to make it more accessible. The reforms focus on digitisation, reduced paperwork, faster claim processing, and improved online services, among other things.
Here are 7 popular EPFO services for salaried employees:
1. Online claims play an important role for EPFO subscribers as they make access to savings easier for members. Form 31 is used for partial withdrawal of the provident fund, and Form 19 is for final settlement of the EPF account. EPF Form 10C helps members claim a pension withdrawal under certain circumstances. These services are easily available on the members' online EPF accounts.
2. UAN activation - Two days ago, the government mandated EPFO to ensure activation of the UAN for employees through Aadhaar-based OTP. UAN, also known as Universal Account Number, is a unique number associated with each EPF subscriber. This will make it easier for employees to have access to their PF-related information online.
3. UAN management - Once the UAN is activated, employees can easily manage their account information via the member portal. They can also update their KYC details, such as phone number or mail ID, with ease online. This allows them to enjoy a number of convenient digital services without any hassle.
4. Online passbook - On their EPF account, employees can enjoy real-time tracking of monthly contributions and accrued interest. The passbook section on the dashboard contains contribution details from past and present employers so that employees can verify their submissions and keep track of their corpus.
5. Through the UAN member portal, employees can also file transfer claims when changing jobs. They can also track the status of their transfer claims easily online, making it convenient to monitor their corpus.
6. Insurance benefit: The EPFO also provides a life insurance benefit under the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme. Under this, all EPF subscribers are automatically covered without any extra cost. In case of an employee's death during service, the nominee receives compensation ranging from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, depending on salary and balance.
7. Additionally, salaried employees can make their family members as nominees under the EPS and EDLI schemes. This process can also be done online in just a few steps. They can also use SMS or missed call alerts to quickly check their EPF balance without internet access.
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