The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on February 28 said that all services utilising Aadhar authentication will remain impacted due to technical maintenance of the platform’s Aadhar setup.
In a post on the social media site X (formerly Twitter), the body further said it regrets the inconvenience to users.
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EPFO rejects every third claim it receives
According to reports on February 20 it was revealed that the EPFO has rejected every third claim that it received. Several subscribers raised their grievances relating to the delay in claim settlement on the official X handle of EPFO.
Read More:- EPFO rejects every third claim it receives, says report
India’s provident fund body is the world’s largest social security organisation with over 277 million accounts and a corpus of nearly ₹20 lakh crore.
In response to one such query, the EPFO stated that it normally takes 20 days to settle a claim or release the PF amount if the same submitted to the concerned EPFO office is complete.
Read More:- Payroll Data: EPFO adds 15.62 lakh net members in December 2023
Out of the total 73.87 lakh claims received for final PF settlement in financial year 2022-23, 33.8 per cent (24.93 lakh) were rejected. At the same time, 46.66 lakh were settled and 2.18 lakh remained as closing balance, according to official data.
This was considerably higher than the rate of rejection in 2017-18 and 2018-19, when it stood at nearly 13 per cent and 18.2 per cent, respectively.
EPFO records 15.62 lakh net members in December 2023
The EPFO reported a net addition of 15.62 lakh members in December 2023, as per the payroll data released on February 20, PTI reported. This is a 4.62 percent increase from December 2022.
This also marks an 11.97 percent increase in net member addition compared to the previous month, according to a statement from the labour ministry.
Read More: EPFO Hikes Interest Rate: Step-By-Step Guide To Check EPF Balance On Mobile
In December 2023, approximately 8.41 lakh new members were enrolled, reflecting a 14.21 percent increase compared to November 2023. Notably, the 18-25 age group constitutes 57.18 percent of the total new members, indicating a trend where the majority of those joining the organised workforce are youth and first-time job seekers.
The surge in membership is attributed to factors such as increased employment opportunities, growing awareness of employee benefits, and the effectiveness of EPFO’s outreach programmes.
