New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) Subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO will be able to withdraw their employees' provident fund (EPF) directly into their bank accounts through UPI payment gateway using its newly designed mobile application to be launched in April this year, a top 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 Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the source told PTI.

The source further informed that the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation will roll out a new mobile phone application through which the member would be able to withdraw their EPF money using UPI gateway as well as avail other services like passbook balance.

Currently, the member uses either the Universal Account Number (UAN) portal or the UMANG app to access their EPF accounts and avail of their services.

The source said that these services will remain available on both platforms, while the new dedicated app will further improve the accessibility and delivery of services for EPFO subscribers.

He explained that subscribers will be able to view the eligible EPF balance available for transfer to their seeded bank accounts in the mobile application.

They will be allowed to use their linked UPI PIN to complete the transaction, ensuring a secure transfer of funds to their bank accounts.

The source stated that the EPFO is presently conducting trials using 100 dummy accounts to improve the efficacy of the service and remove any technical glitches that the service may have.

The labour ministry is likely to roll out the new app with a big fanfare in April this year.

Presently, the members of 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 already been raised to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 1 lakh.

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

EPFO, which has about 8 crore members, 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 developed to avoid this time-consuming process and reduce the burden on the EPFO, as over 5 crore claims, mostly for EPF withdrawals, 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 the government wants to improve EPFO services to be on par with banks. PTI KKS KKS MR