EPFO notified the hike on the rate of interest for the Financial Year 2019

The notification for the 10 basis points hike in the interest rate on employees' provident fund for 2018-19 had finally been announced a few days back. The Central Board of Trustees, the Employees' Provident Fund Organization’s (EPFO) who is the apex decision-making body, had approved 8.65% interest rate for Financial Year 2019, up from a 5-year low rate of 8.55%. However since the labor ministry was yet to inform it, the higher amount has not been credited into the accounts of the over 6 crores EPFO members. The retirement unit would soon credit the interest amount in the EPF accounts of over 6 crores of its subscribers.

Presently, the body is settling PF withdrawal claims at a 5-year low rate of 88.55%., which has been approved for 2017-18.

The EPF deposits for its subscribers had been notified of 8.65% rate of interest by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Currently, the interest shall be credited into accounts of subscribers as well as the claims shall be settled at this rate.

After this step, the EPFO shall give directions towards its over 136 field offices to credit the rate of interest into subscribers' accounts as well as settle their claims consequently.

As per the EPFO’s estimations, there shall be a surplus of Rs 151.67 crore after allotment of the higher interest rate for 2018-19 on the EPF. However at 8.7% rate of interest on EPF, there could have been a deficit of Rs 158 crore, and thus the body settled on 8.65% interest rate for Financial Year 2019.

In order to check the PF balance online, a member is required to have an active Universal Account Number (UAN):

EPFO website

The easiest way to check EPF balance is through the EPFO website. After a member logged in on the EPFO website (www.epfindia.gov.in), the user must be using his/her UAN number and password, click on the 'For Employees' option and select 'Our Services' before clicking on 'Member Passbook' option. Then enter the UAN and password details on the new page, and your provident fund details shall be reflected. A member could even save a PDF copy of the EPF details. It is compulsory for members to seed their Aadhaar numbers against activated UANs to view their e-passbooks.

For the uninitiated, UAN is known to be a unique 12-digit number which is allotted to every EPFO subscriber. In order to obtain your UAN, a subscriber is required to either check his/her monthly salary slip or contact the human resource department at his/her place of service. Also, a subscriber could get his/her UAN on the EPFO portal. Visit the unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/ and in the page the subscriber would find the 'Know Your UAN status' link under the 'Important Links' section. Once he/she has clicked on it, the individual shall be redirected to a page that will ask for details, for instance, an EPF member ID or linked Aadhaar/PAN number and the individual’s date of birth. Once the subscriber has filled in all the details, it asks for an OTP, which is sent to the registered mobile number of the subscriber, and once validated, the subscriber would receive his/her UAN by SMS.

If the subscriber has not activated his/her UAN, the subscriber would not be able to access the online facility of managing your EPF accounts. 

UMANG mobile app

UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) gives a single platform towards accessing pan India e-governance services, which includes EPF details.

After the subscriber has downloaded this app, they are required to click on 'Employee Centric Services' and then click on 'View Passbook' to check his/her EPF balance. Once the subscriber had submitted all the details for e.g., mobile number, Aadhaar, etc, the subscriber could also claim EPF money through the app as well as they can track claim processing.

SMS service

The subscriber could also send an SMS to mobile number 7738299899. The message that is required to type out is EPFOHO UAN ENG if English is your preferred language. If the subscriber wants to receive the message updates in Hindi, type in EPFOHO UAN HIN. Similarly, the subscriber could select other languages like Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, and Telugu. Also, it is necessary to make certain the UAN is connected before the subscriber sends the SMS.

Missed call

The subscriber can give a missed call on the number 011-22901406 from his/her registered mobile number, and the subscriber then could obtain the details about his/her PF balance. Also, this facility requires the subscriber UAN number to be activated as well as integrated with his/her KYC details, e.g., Aadhar or PAN or bank account details.

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Author:

eStartIndia Team