A long wait to claim provident fund (PF) amount is now over, as the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has revised the time to be taken to settle PF, pension and insurance claims to 20 days compared to an earlier timeline of 30 days.

"The EPFO revised the timeline to 20 days in July," said the Ministry of Labour & Employment in a release.

The EPFO has settled a total of 11.56 lakh claims in July, with 43% of those claims settled in just three days, 83% within 10 days and 97% within 20 days, said KK Jalan, Central PF Commissioner.

"EPFO is geared up to meet the new stringent timelines. The field offices have also been instructed for greater liasoning with the disbursing banks for prompt delivery of benefits to pensioners," The Economic Times reported, citing the ministry release.

The agency rolled out a "nation-wide publicity outreach programme", Nidhi Aapke Nikat, last month, which is aimed at encouraging enhanced participation by its stakeholders, it said.

"EPFO was able to dispose 19,016 grievances leaving only 3,068 grievances pending in all the field offices of the country put together. It is noteworthy that 84% of the pendency is for less than 15 days," the release said.

The EPFO has implemented the New Fund Management System (NFMS) in its accounts department to improve the efficiency of fund management. 

The ministry also said that a proposal to keep a cap on the PF withdrawals was sent to the government.

"In order to curb the tendency on the part of subscribers to withdraw PF prematurely, which results in only a meagre amount remaining at the end of the working life thereby defeating the very purpose of a social security net like Provident Fund, a proposal has been sent to the government for restricting the same," the release concluded.

Also Read