In just over ten days since the scheme was rolled out, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has processed around 1.27 lakh claims, disbursing ₹238.48 crore in total, under the special withdrawal scheme introduced in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, EPFO officials said on Wednesday.
With the country in a three-week lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a special withdrawal scheme for employees on March 26. EPF subscribers can withdraw up to 75% of the amount in their PF balance or three months of their basic pay and dearness allowance, whichever is less.
The scheme was notified on March 27 and rolled out on March 29, with EPFO developing a new software within 24 hours in order to process applications quickly, EPFO officials said.
‘Auto mode’
As of Wednesday, EPFO had processed around 1.27 lakh claims that amount to ₹238.48 crore in total and remittances of the money had already started, EPFO CEO Sunil Barthwal said. He added that there was “no pendency” for the applications that were completely KYC compliant. While those applications that were KYC compliant were being processed in under 72 hours in an “auto mode”, those that had deficiencies were being processed manually, on priority, he said.
The Union Labour and Employment Ministry had on Sunday announced that EPFO would accept the date of birth recorded in the Aadhaar card of a subscriber as a valid proof for rectification of the date of birth in PF records in order for the account to be KYC compliant.
“In a move to extend the availability and reach of online services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, EPFO has issued revised instructions to its field offices to facilitate PF members to rectify their date of birth in EPFO records, thus ensuring that their Universal Account Number is KYC compliant.” a Labour Ministry statement had said.
