EPFO aims to credit ₹1.44 trillion FY26 PF on July 15 under new IT platform | Today’s news
NEW DELHI: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) aims to contribute more than ₹1.44 trillion in interest to nearly 340 crore to provident fund accounts by July 15, which could be the fastest annual interest payment in several years following the introduction of the new Centralized IT Enabled Services (CITES) platform, Union Labor and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday.
If achieved, the timetable would represent a significant improvement over previous years, when annual interest accruals often stretched until October or November after the interest rate announcement.
Interest will be credited at the rate of 8.25% approved for FY26 by the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) in March, subject to the completion of field verification to ensure that no account receives improper interest, Mandaviya said while briefing reporters on measures taken to streamline EPFO transactions.
The recommendations of the CBT, chaired by Mandaviya, were subsequently approved by the government.
“The organization has significantly improved its interest crediting systems, enabling the exercise to be completed in much less time,” Mandaviya said, attributing the faster timeline to EPFO’s technology-driven reforms.
The acceleration follows EPFO’s migration from a decentralized system where each regional office maintained its own database to a single national database under the CITES project. The centralized platform enables member records to be processed at the national level, enabling services to be provided from any authorized EPFO office instead of just the office where the account is maintained.
As per EPFO’s internal implementation plan, the annual interest loan will now be processed through an automated workflow on a centralized platform.
EPFO has also increased the automatic settlement limit for fully KYC compliant advance claims ₹5 million from ₹1 lakh, Mandaviya said. Members will be able to respond online to clarification requests during claims processing, while approved claims will be settled through a centralized payment architecture, with funds credited directly to bank accounts on the day of settlement.
Under the new platform, interest will be calculated up to the date of authorization of the last payment instead of the end of the previous month, ensuring that subscribers will earn interest for the entire eligible period. The partial withdrawal rules have also been simplified by consolidating 13 provisions into three broad categories – basic needs, housing needs and special circumstances.
For employees changing jobs, pension fund accounts based on Aadhaar-linked Universal Account Number (UAN) along with service history will be automatically transferred, eliminating approvals from previous employers, new employers and EPFO offices. Pensioners will also be able to access services from any EPFO office, while pension payments will be credited to statewide bank accounts under a centralized pension payment system.
