For enhancing ease of living for its crores of members, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has now introduced auto-mode settlement of advance claims for the purpose of education and marriage and housing. The pension fund body has introduced an auto-claim solution through which member claims are processed electronically without human intervention.
The auto mode of claim settlement was introduced in April 2020 for the purpose of advance for illness. Now, this limit has been enhanced to Rs 1,00,000. During the current year, around 2.25 crore members are expected to reap the benefits of this facility.
During the financial year 2023-24, the EPFO settled around 4.45 crore claims, out of which more than 60% (2.84 crore) claims were advance claims. Out of total advance claims settled during the year, around 89.52 lakh claims were settled using auto-mode.
To facilitate “ease of living”, the auto claim solution has now been extended for all claims under Para 68K (education & marriage purpose) and 68B (housing purpose) of the EPF Scheme, 1952. In addition, the limit has been doubled from earlier Rs 50,000 to Rs 1,00,000. This move is expected to benefit millions of EPFO members.
“The entire process in auto-settlement is IT system driven, eliminating human intervention. Any claim with KYC, eligibility and bank validation is processed for payment by IT tools automatically. As a result of this, the periodicity of claim settlement is reduced significantly from 10 days to within 3-4 days for such advances. The claims that are not validated by system are not returned or rejected. They are further undertaken for second level of scrutiny and approvals,” the pension fund body said in a statement on May 13.
“The expansion of the scope of the auto claims to the housing, marriage and education purposes as well as enhancement will directly help many members to avail their funds within the shortest possible duration, which will substantially aid them in promptly meeting their education, marriage, or housing requirements,” it added.
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