EPFO: EPFO increased the auto settlement limit for PF withdrawal, soon you can withdraw Rs 5 lakh from EPF account..

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has taken several steps for the convenience of PF account holders in the last few years, one of which includes the introduction of auto-settlement mode for advance claims. Once again, EPFO is going to give a big relief to crores of members. Reports suggest that the Center is going to increase the limit of auto settlement of PF withdrawal from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

Recently, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje told the Lok Sabha that more than 60% of advance claims are now being processed in this manner.

Will you be able to withdraw up to Rs 5 lakh from your PF account?

Sources told ANI that Secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Employment Sumita Dawra approved the proposal to increase the limit in the 113th meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) held in Srinagar last week. This change in limit will provide great relief to crores of members. This recommendation will now go to CBT (Central Board of Trustees) for approval. That is, as soon as this recommendation gets the final approval of CBT, EPFO members will be able to withdraw up to Rs 5 lakh from their PF account for education, marriage, housing, and treatment.

Now PF money can be withdrawn through UPI and ATM.
EPFO is ready to start a new system, in fact, soon PF withdrawal will be possible through the Unified Payments Interface i.e. UPI. Last week, Davra indicated that the ministry has approved the recommendation of NPCI. By the end of May or June this year, members will be able to withdraw PF money through UPI and ATM.

PF withdrawal will now be easier.
The report also quoted sources as saying that the validation formalities for withdrawing PF have also been reduced from 27 to 18 and it was decided to reduce it to 6 in the meeting. To guide members about the eligibility of the claim and ensure that they do not file ineligible claims, some validations have been developed.

When did the auto-claim process start?

EPFO started the auto claim system in April 2020 for advance payment of illness or hospital. Last year, its limit was increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Later, EPFO introduced auto-mode settlement for making advance claims for 3 more categories education, marriage, and housing. Now more than 99.31% of claims are received in online mode and are processed within three days. This has also reduced the claim rejection rate from 50% to 30%.

The advantage of this process is that 95% of the claims are settled in just 3 days. Union Minister Karandlaje said that till March 6, 2025, EPFO has done 2.16 crore auto-claim settlements, which is many times more than the 89.52 lakh claims in 2023-24.

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