EPFO member may soon be able to withdraw EPF money through ATMs, UPI directly

New Delhi: Retirement fund body EPFO subscribers may soon be able to withdraw their employees' provident fund (EPF) directly from their accounts through ATMs or other modes like UPI after linking their bank accounts with EPF.

A highly placed source said the labour ministry is working on a project where a certain proportion of the EPF will be frozen and a large chunk will be available for withdrawal through their bank account using various modes like UPI or ATM debit cards.

The source also said there are some software challenges to implementing this system, which are being resolved.

Presently, the members of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) have to apply for withdrawal claims to access their EPF money, which is time-consuming.

Under the auto-settlement mode, the withdrawal claims are settled electronically without manual intervention within three days of filing the application form.

The limit of this auto-settlement mode has been raised to Rs 5 lakh on Tuesday from existing Rs 1 lakh.

This will facilitate a large number of EPFO members to access their EPF money within three days for illness, education, marriage, and housing purposes.

The EPFO, which has more than 7 crore members, had first introduced online auto-settlement of advance claims during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide quick assistance to those facing financial crunch.

However, all members have to file claims to access their own EPF.

The new system is being evolved to avoid this time-consuming process and reduce the burden of the EPFO, as over 5 crore claims mostly for withdrawing EPF are settled every year.

The source said that the EPFO cannot allow its members to withdraw money directly from the EPF accounts because the body does not have any banking licences.

However, the source said that the government wants to improve the services of the EPFO at par with banks.