Over 7 lakh inactive PF accounts holding up to Rs 1,000 to be settled soon

New Delhi: More than Rs 30 crore lying idle in small, long-unused provident fund accounts will soon be returned to workers or their families, according to a senior official from the labour ministry.

A source said the Ministry of Labour and Employment has decided to settle 7.11 lakh inoperative accounts of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, each carrying a balance of up to Rs 1,000. Together, these accounts hold Rs 30.52 crore in post-retirement savings.

An EPF account is treated as inoperative when it does not receive any contribution from either the employee or the employer for more than 36 months. Overall, the EPFO has 31.86 lakh such inoperative accounts, with accumulated funds amounting to Rs 10,903 crore, the source said.

“These amounts will be instantly transferred to the bank accounts of members whose EPF accounts are seeded with Aadhaar,” the official said. In cases where the account holder has passed away, the money will be released to the nominee or legal heir.The source added that the ministry has begun a broader clean-up exercise to address all dormant EPF accounts in phases. “The objective is to eventually settle every inoperative account and ensure the funds reach the rightful beneficiaries,” the official said.

Alongside this effort, the ministry is advancing EPFO 3.0, a digital transformation project aimed at improving services for members and employers. The initiative includes Core Banking System-enabled features to simplify account management, reduce paperwork and speed up claim settlements.

Under the new system, claims cleared through risk management checks will move to an automated process, cutting settlement time from up to 20 days to less than three days. The EPFO also holds regular review meetings to track grievance redressal and measure improvements in processing timelines.