Union government approves overhaul of EPFO's IT infrastructure amid subscriber grievances
- In Reports
- 07:15 PM, Aug 22, 2024
- Myind Staff
The Union government has approved a comprehensive overhaul of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) IT infrastructure, as part of a broader set of reforms aimed at addressing the long-standing grievances of subscribers regarding the organization’s cumbersome processes. The modernization initiative, which begins with the migration to a new IT system, follows several rounds of reviews led by Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The EPFO, a state-run retirement fund manager, has frequently been the target of complaints from employees about delays in transactions and difficulties in resolving issues such as correcting misspelled names or phone numbers—details that are essential for subscribers to access their savings. To address these issues, the IT system revamp is set to be completed within three months, with software professionals tasked with ensuring minimal disruption during the transition, Mandaviya announced on Wednesday.
The Labour Ministry is progressing on what is being called the EPFO 2.0 project, which aims to streamline processes and reduce turnaround times for both members and employers. A senior official involved in the project stated that authorities are implementing a re-engineered and rationalized centralized payments and claims settlement mechanism in mission mode.
Provident funds, which provide retirement income for over 67 million salaried Indians, represent a critical corpus of lifetime savings for working individuals. The interest rate offered by the EPFO, currently set at 8.25% for FY24, is closely monitored by the salaried middle class.
The ongoing reforms include centralized claim settlements with end-to-end auto-processing, centralized monthly pension disbursements, Universal Account Number (UAN)-based accounting, a restructured electronic challan-cum-receipt (ECR) system with due statements, and a remittance challan. Notably, the EPFO will eliminate the need for the transfer of member IDs when employees change jobs. In a significant update, the organization has introduced an auto-mode processing system for all types of advance claims up to Rs.1 lakh.
“The EPFO’s claim rejection rate has increased recently, much to the dismay of subscribers. In many cases, this is due to technical issues or account-related problems, such as discrepancies in documents and name mismatches,” said Aarti Gupta, partner at Lamba and Associates.
Image source: Indian express
Comments