Lok Sabha Question No. 2706 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-17
Subject: EPF Services
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: Shri Madhavaneni Raghunandan Rao

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2706 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.03.2025

## EPF SERVICES

2706. SHRI MADHAVANENI RAGHUNANDAN RAO:

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)the details of the steps being taken by the Government to enhance the  facilities  and  services  provided  to  EPF  account  holders, particularly  in  terms  of  simplifying  procedures  and  reducing processing times;
- (b)the details of the number of EPF centers currently operational in Telangana State, including the services offered and the number of beneficiaries served;
- (c)whether any new initiatives or programmes are being launched by the Government to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of EPF services in Telangana; and (d)if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## (SUSHRI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE)

- (a) to (d): EPFO has taken several steps to streamline the process of claim settlement. Some of these are as following:
- (i) For Auto mode processing of advance claims, the amount limit has been enhanced to Rupees One lakh. Further, in addition to Illness /  hospitalization  advances,  the  advances  for  housing,  education and marriage are also enabled for auto mode processing. Now 60% of advance claims are processed are in auto mode.

The  auto-mode  claims  are  processed  within  three  days.  EPFO achieved a historic high of 2.16 crore auto-claims settlement as on 06.03.2025 during the current financial year, up from 89.52 lakh in FY 2023-24.

- (ii)Member  details  correction  process  has  been  simplified,  and members having Aadhaar-verified UANs can make corrections in their IDs themselves, without any EPFO interventions. At present, about  96%  corrections  are  being  done  without  any  EPF  office intervention.

(iii)Over 99.31% claims are now received in online mode, without any requirement to visit the field office. In FY 2024-25 as on 06.03.2025, 7.14 Crore claims have been filed in online mode.

(iv) In Transfer claim submission requests, the need for employer's attestation of Aadhaar-verified UANs has been done away with.  Now only 10% transfer claims require member and employer's attestation.

(v)The requirement for submitting a cheque-leaf with the claim form has also been relaxed for KYC-compliant UANs meeting prescribed criteria.

(vi)EPFO  has  also  provided  de-linking  facilities  to  the  members, whose EPF accounts have been erroneously/fraudulently linked by the  establishments.  Since  its  launch  on  18.01.2025,  more  than 55,000  members  have  de-linked  their  accounts  till  the  end  of February, 2025.

(vii)Certain upfront validations have been developed to guide members about eligibility /admissibility of claims so as to ensure that members do not file ineligible claims

(viii)The  claim  settlement  process  is  being  further  simplified  with Centralization of  member databases under CITES 2.01.

EPFO  provides  its  services  in  the  state  of  Telangana through its 8 Regional Offices and 2 District Offices. List of offices along with their current contributory membership is as following:

| REGIONAL OFFICE/ DISTRICT OFFICE   | REGIONAL OFFICE/ DISTRICT OFFICE                                  | REGIONAL OFFICE/ DISTRICT OFFICE                 |
|------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| S.No.OFFICE NAME                   | S.No.OFFICE NAME                                                  | CONTRIBUTORY UANs                                |
| 1                                  | Regional Office, Patancheru                                       | 3,29,378                                         |
| 2                                  | Regional Office, Kukatpalli                                       | 6,81,756                                         |
| 3                                  | Regional Office, Karimnagar (including District Office, Adilabad) | 1,26,654                                         |
| 4                                  | Regional Office, Warangal (including District Office, Khammam)    | 1,02,430                                         |
| 5                                  | Regional Office, Hyderabad (Barkatpura)12,14,062                  | Regional Office, Hyderabad (Barkatpura)12,14,062 |
| 6                                  | Regional Office, Nizamabad                                        | 4,51,094                                         |
| 7                                  | Regional Office, Hyderabad (Madhapur)                             | 19,77,622                                        |
| 8                                  | Regional Office, Siddipet                                         | 27,372                                           |

## Major  services  offered  by  EPFO  through  its  Regional Offices are as following:

- i. Coverage & enrolments of establishments and members including compliance of EPF&MP Act and Schemes framed thereunder. It also facilitates ECR submission and default management services along with UAN-KYC seeding drives.
- ii. EPF  Claim  settlements  including  Final  settlements  and  Partial withdrawals  for  major  life-cycle  needs  (e.g.,  illness,  marriage, education, housing, unemployment, pandemic, etc.) and Transfer of member Accounts.
- iii. Pension claim settlement, issuance of Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) and monthly pension payments along with Jeevan Praman for pensioners. This covers Monthly benefits for superannuation/ retirement, disability, survivor, widow(er), children. Additionally, withdrawal  benefits/schemes  certificates  are  also  provided  to eligible members.
- iv. Withdrawal by nominees/survivors in cases of death (PF settlement, Pension payment, EDLI insurance payment).
- v. Grievance redressal mechanisms including EPFiGMS and CPGRAM, awareness generation for new initiatives. A dedicated monthly public outreach programme Nidhi Aapke Nikat 2.0 is also conducted by the EPF offices every month.
- vi. Other  major  service  areas  such  as  member  profile  correction, issuance  of  Certificate  of  Coverage  for  international  workers, Facilitation desks for members/employers for facilitating various services, etc.

District  Offices  functions  under  the  overall  supervision and direction of concerned Regional Office.

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