EPFO nod likely soon for minimum Rs 2,000 EPS pension

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is expected to soon give its go-ahead to the proposal of doubling monthly pension for EPS subscribers to Rs 2,000.

This would benefit at least 40 lakh subscribers and cost the Centre a minimum Rs 3,000 crore per annum.

The issue, though not listed on the agenda for the upcoming central board of trustees’ meeting of EPFO on June 26, is likely to be tabled after permission from the labour minister, who is the chairman of the board ..


EPFO had started investing in ETFs in August 2015. In 2015-16, it invested 5% of its investible deposits, which were subsequently increased to 10% in 2016-17 and 15% in 2017-18. It has invested Rs 41,967.51crore in ETFs with return of 17.23% as on February 2018. The body had sold ETFs worth Rs 2,500 crore in March this year for the first time to liquidate its investments in stock market.

The central board of trustees of EPFO is the highest decision making body. It comprises representatives of trade unions, employers as well as central and state governments and all decisions related to the retirement fund body are taken by the CBT. 

There are around 60 lakh pensioners under the EPF-95, of which around 40 lakh are getting less than Rs 1,500 per month. Of these, 18 lakh are the existing beneficiaries under the minimum pension of Rs 1,000. The government has about Rs 3 lakh  .. 

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Ayushman Bharat (Modicare) benefits likely for lakhs for EPF subscribers

EPFO alert: Lakhs of EPF subscribers can soon enjoy the benefits of PM Narendra Modi-led Union government's ambitious Ayushman Bharat (or Modicare) scheme. Zee Business TV reports that the Union Ministry of Labour is currently holding talks with the Health department for providing benefits of Ayushman Bharat scheme to eligible EPFO subscribers. 

Mediclaim facility for EPFO subscribers has been a longstanding demand. The report says that which EPFO subscriber will get the benefit of Ayushman Bharat or not may depend on the legal structure of the scheme. However, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of EPFO has not yet formally approved any such proposal. Currently, this is being seen as an option as to whether eligible EPFO subscribers can get medical benefits under Ayushman Bharat. According to CBT, this will depend on the category of the pension holder.

Ayushman Bharat benefit will come as a huge relief for as many as 70-80 per cent EPF pensioners, who get less than Rs 1500/month as pension. 

In the next CBT meeting, a formal talk on the matter is expected to take place. Optionally, it is also being discussed whether Employee Deposit-linked Insurance Service, in which employer deposits for the employee, can be used for extending Ayushman Bharat benefits by increasing the premium from pensioners, the report said.  

Data released by EPFO in April this year had shown that during September, 2017 to February, 2018, 31.10 lakh new subscribers were added across all age groups in the payroll. "Given that the data for recent months are provisional due to continuous updation of employee records, this could be called a conservative estimate. The actual figures may well be more than this," a PIB release had said.

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EPFO cuts administrative charges to 0.5 % of total wage paid by employers

The labour ministry has notified the decision to cut administrative charges, which would be effective from June 1.

Now over 5 lakh employers together would save around Rs 900 crore annually following the retirement fund body EPFO’s decision to cut administrative charges, with effect from June 1, 2018.

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) trustees had decided to cut the administrative charges to 0.50 per cent from 0.65 per cent of total wage paid by employers in its meeting on February 21, 2018.

“The labour ministry has notified the decision to cut administrative charges, which would be effective from June 1, 2018. This will encourage employers to formalise their workers employment by bringing them under the ambit of social security schemes run by the EPFO,” the retirement fund body’s Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy told PTI.

The EPFO decided to cut the administrative charges in view of its expanding business and high recovery of such fees.

According to the EPFO estimates, the employers would save in total around Rs 900 crore annually after this move.

During the last fiscal, the EPFO had collected around Rs 3,800 crore as administrative charges from the employers for running its social security schemes.

The EPFO has accumulated surplus of over Rs 20,000 crore in the administrative charges account which earns an interest income of over Rs 1,600 crore per annum.

Explaining the rationale behind cutting administrative charges, Joy said the EPFO would not be affected by the cut in administrative charges because of increasing subscribers’ contribution base.

The administrative charges are levied as proportion of total wages of employees on which employers pays their contribution.

The EPFO had reduced administrative charges from 1.10 per cent to 0.85 per cent from January 1, 2015. It was further reduced to 0.65 per cent from April 1, 2017.

The EPFO has a subscribers’ base of over five crore and the body manages a corpus of over Rs 10 lakh crore at present.

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EPFO to allow members to withdraw 75% funds after a month of unemployment

Retirement fund body EPFO on Tuesday decided to give its members an option to withdraw 75% of their funds after one month of unemployment and keep their PF account with the body.

The members would also have an option to withdraw remaining 25% of their funds and go for final settlement of account after completion of two months of unemployment under the new provision in the Employee Provident Fund Scheme 1952.

“We have decided to amend the scheme to allow members to take advance from its account on one month of unemployment. He can withdraw 75% of its funds as advance from its account after one month of unemployment and keep its account with the EPFO,” Labour minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar, who is also the Chairman of EPFO’s Central Board of Trustees, told reporters after the trustees meet in New Delhi.

At present, in case of unemployment, a subscriber can withdraw his or her funds after two months of unemployment and settle the account in one go.

The minister was of the view that this new provision would give an option to members to keep their account with the EPFO, which he can use after regaining employment again.

However, it was proposed that the members would be allowed to take 60% of funds as advance on unemployment for not less than 30 days. But, the CBT raised the limit to 75% in the meeting held Tuesday.

The minister further said, “We approved almost the entire agenda listed for the meeting of the CBT today. We have also given an extension of one year to ETF (exchange traded funds) manufacturers SBI and UTI Mutual funds till July 1, 2019. We have also extended the term of fund managers till December 31, 2018.”

There was a proposal to give extension of six more months to its five fund managers SBI, ICICI Securities Primary Dealership, Reliance Capital, HSBC AMC and UTI AMC for managing its corpus.

The five fund managers were appointed for three years from April 1, 2015. They were given extension till June 30, 2018. The CBT has also approved the proposal to appoint consultant for selection of portfolio managers.

The minister also said that the EPFO’s ETF investment would soon cross Rs 1 lakh crore mark as its has already invested Rs 47,431.24 crore till May end this year earning a return of 16.07%.

The EPFO has also extended the tenure of its consultant CRISIL for evaluation of performance of fund manager till December 31, 2018.

On the widening of range of the ETF investments by the EPFO, a CBT member said that the agenda was deferred and the board was unanimous that a call will be taken on the advise of new fund managers and consultants to be appointed shortly.

It was proposed to amend the investment pattern of the EPFO to enable the body to invest in equity index ETF beyond NIFTY 50 and Sensex ETF.

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Situations In Which You Can Withdraw EPF Money Before Retirement

If you want to withdraw money from EPF kitty for constructing a house or for marriage, EPFO lets you withdraw money from EPF account.

Retirement fund body EPFO or Employees' Provident Fund Organisation allows subscribers to withdraw money from EPF or Employees' Provident Fund for certain special purposes. EPFO recently allowed contributors to withdraw 75 per cent of the EPF balance if they have been unemployed for a month. Latest rules allow for complete withdrawal of EPF money if a contributor is unemployed for more than two months. If you want to withdraw money from the EPF kitty for constructing a house or for marriage, EPFO permits you to do so, according to the retirement fund body's website -epfindia.gov.in

Here are 10 specific situations under which EPFO allows you to make a partial withdrawal from your EPF kitty:

1) An EPFO member can withdraw up to 50 per cent of the money from the EPF kitty for his or her own marriage, the marriage of his or her daughter, son, sister or brother. However, the person should have completed contribution to EPF for seven years.

2) EPFO members can also withdraw money for the post-matriculation education of his or her son or daughter.

3) In case a firm has been locked up or closed down for more than fifteen days and its employees are rendered unemployed without any compensation, or in case an employee does not receive his or her wages for a continuous period of two months or more, EPFO members can withdraw money from EPF. The amount should not exceed the member's own total contribution including interest.  

4) Up to 50 per cent of EPF money can be withdrawn if an employee, who has been sacked by his company challenges such sacking in a court.

5) EPFO members can seek withdraw money from EPF if they fall ill due to tuberculosis, leprosy, paralysis, cancer, mental derangement or heart ailment etc., if they are hospitalized for a month or more and in case they have to undergo a major surgical operation. However, the member has to prove that the Employees' State Insurance Scheme facility and benefits are not available to him and that a doctor has recommended a surgery or hospitalization for him.

6) If a member's property is damaged by unforeseen natural calamities like floods and earthquakes, he can seek Rs. 5,000 or 50 per cent, whichever is lower, of his contribution from the EPF kitty.

7) A physically handicapped member may be allowed a non-refundable advance from his EPF account for purchasing equipment required to minimize his hardship.

8)  An EPFO member can withdraw up to 90 per cent of his EPF amount at any time after attainment of the age of 54 years or within one year before his actual retirement on superannuation, whichever is later.

9) EPFO permits EPF withdrawal of up to 90 per cent of the amount at any time after attaining the age of 55 years by the member, to be transferred to Life Insurance Corporation of India for

investment in Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana.

(Also Read: Provident Fund Interest Rate For FY18 Slashed To 5-Year Low)

10) EPFO members can withdraw money for construction of house or purchase for site of the house. The member is required to have completed five years' membership of the EPFO.

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How To Check Your EPF balance , WANT TO KNOW

EPF or Employees' Provident Fund is a mandatory contribution from the salary of an individual that every organisation with more than 20 employees has to deduct. EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) is the nodal agency to monitor EPF contributions, which is shared equally between employees and employer. An EPFO subscriber can check his/her PF (provident fund) balance online through EPFO's website or UMANG app. UMANG app is the only official app for accessing its services, according to EPFO. EFPO also provides the information via missed call facility and SMS service.

Here are multiple ways to check your EPF balance:

How to check EPF balance via EPFO's website:

1. Log on to EPFO's official website -- epfindia.gov.in -- and click on e-passbook.

2. After clicking on e-passbook, you will be directed to a page -- passbook.epfindia.gov.in -- where you need to enter your username (UAN or Universal Account Number), password and captcha.

3. After entering you details, you will be directed to a page where you will have to select the member id.

(Select the member id)

4. After selecting the member id, which depends on the number of organisations you've worked in, you can view the e-passbook and know your EPF balance.

(You can view the e-passbook and know your EPF balance)

How to check EPF balance via SMS:

One can send an SMS to 7738299899 from his/her registered mobile number to check the EPF balance via text message. The member has to type "EPFOHO UAN". The facility is available in 10 languages viz. English (default), Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu,  and Bengali. For receiving SMS in any of the languages other than English, first three characters of the preferred language need to be added after UAN. For example, to receive the SMS in Tamil, you should send it as follows: "EPFOHO UAN TAM" to 7738299899.

How to check EPF balance via Missed call:

EPFO members can check their balance by giving a missed call at 011-22901406 from their registered mobile number. If the UAN of the member is seeded with any one of the Bank A/c number, AADHAAR and PAN, the member will get details of last contribution and PF balance. However, to avail this facility, mobile number must be activated with UAN at Unified Portal. Giving missed call from registered mobile number at 011-22901406 automatically gets disconnected after two rings. This service is available free of cost.

How to check EPF balance via Umang app

Open Umang (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) app and click on EPFO. Members will be directed to a page which shows employee-centric services. Click on 'employee centric services', which will direct you to a page. Then, click on 'view passbook' and enter your UAN  and one time password (OTP) that will you will receive on your registered mobile number. After this, you will be able to check your EPF balance.

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