Latest news with #MinistryofLabourandEmployment
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
EPFO likely to allow instant PF withdrawals via UPI and ATMs from June 2025
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to revolutionize the way millions of employees access their provident fund (PF) savings. Starting June 2025, EPF members will be able to instantly withdraw PF funds via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and ATMs, according to DD News. This major step is being implemented with the support of the Ministry of Labour and Employment and has already received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The new facility will also allow users to check their PF balance directly on UPI platforms and transfer funds to their bank accounts without delays. Instant PF withdrawals under EPFO 3.0 Currently, PF withdrawals involve submitting online claims followed by a waiting period for approval from EPFO field offices. This process can take several days or even weeks. However, the upcoming integration with UPI and ATMs is expected to make settlements instantaneous. Members will be allowed to withdraw up to ₹1 lakh instantly—especially helpful in emergencies. 'EPFO has made significant improvements in its digital infrastructure by integrating over 120 databases,' said Sumita Dawra, Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Employment. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Perdagangkan CFD Emas dengan Broker Tepercaya IC Markets Mendaftar Undo 'These efforts have reduced claim processing time to just three days, with 95 per cent of claims now being processed automatically. Further upgrades are also in progress to make the system even more efficient.' Expanded withdrawal purposes Currently, the EPF scheme allows withdrawals for medical emergencies, housing, education, and marriage, but members must meet specific eligibility criteria and provide proper documentation. With the upcoming changes, the scope of permitted withdrawal reasons will be expanded, giving employees greater financial flexibility for key life events. In another significant development, pensioners under the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) of 1995 will be able to access their pensions from any bank branch across India starting January 1, 2025. This means retirees will no longer be restricted to specific banks or branches. Even if a pensioner relocates or changes banks, pension disbursal will continue seamlessly through the Centralised Pension Processing System (CPPS), eliminating the need to transfer Pension Payment Orders (PPO) between offices. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
EPFO head office flags ‘exceptionally high' rejection of higher pension applications
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) head office has written to its field formations flagging the 'exceptionally high' rejection of application vis-à-vis issuance of demand letters in the case of higher pension cases. The missive, dated May 23, has come after the Ministry of Labour and Employment instructions to the retirement fund body to undertake an audit for all such cases of rejection of higher pension applications. A total of 17.49 lakh applications were received for the higher pension option after the Supreme Court directed the EPFO to open a window for pensioners and members to apply for it. Out of the 17.49 lakh applications, 1.02 lakh applications were referred back to employers for complete information and demand letters were issued to 3.68 lakh applicants as of March 31 this year, an official told The Indian Express. Over 1 lakh pensioners have deposited the additional amount sought by the EPFO and over 47,000 members, who are still in service, have also deposited the higher amount, the official said. As per the data at the end of the previous financial year, the EPFO has issued over 34,500 pension payment orders (PPOs), out of which around 19,000 are in process, the official said. In its letter, the EPFO head office stated that it has received numerous grievances from stakeholders regarding the rejection of applications due to minor deficiencies that could have been rectified by employers if they had been provided with adequate guidance and opportunity to address them. 'Arbitrary rejections at various offices have resulted in a number of complaints and have made it difficult for the Head Office to respond effectively. Officers are advised to ensure that applications are processed strictly adhering to the guidelines and instructions provided by the head office. Rejections should be based on substantial and justifiable reasons, and applicants must be given adequate opportunity to rectify minor deficiencies in their submissions. Employers and employees should be adequately facilitated to comply with the requirements, thereby ensuring fair and efficient processing of applications,' the letter stated. The SC in a ruling on November 4, 2022 had upheld the amendments to the Employees' Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014, providing another chance for employees who were existing EPS members as on September 1, 2014, to contribute up to 8.33 per cent of their 'actual' salaries — as against 8.33 per cent of the pensionable salary capped at Rs 15,000 a month — towards pension. Applications that are complete with the required information are processed and demand letters issued by the EPFO indicate the additional due amounts to the pension fund. If the applicants for higher pension under EPS have the due amount available in their provident fund accounts maintained with the EPFO, then only a diversion is required. In cases where the due amount is not available with the EPFO, then it has to be deposited by the member directly or through the employer. In the letter sent last week, the EPFO head office also pointed out instances of rejections wherein the exempted provident fund trust rules did not contain any explicit bar on contribution to EPS 95 beyond wage ceiling or cases where the interpretation of the term 'wages' have been interpreted incorrectly. 'There are even references where the process of verification has been converted into a probing exercise to look out for justification for rejection of applications,' it said. The EPFO letter noted that the Ministry of Labour and Employment has asked the retirement fund body to carry out an audit by a specialised team of chartered accountants empanelled under Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). The EPFO might also deploy its own audit teams to examine cases of rejection, especially those which are under litigation, it said, asking officers to review the cases and take necessary action. Earlier, in January this year, the EPFO head office in a letter to its field offices had said that despite issuance of several circulars and clarifications to facilitate the prompt disposal of higher pension applications, the 'overall progress remains below expectations due to delays in disposal of applications'. The EPFO head office had set fresh deadlines of January 24 and February 7 for its field offices to complete processing of the higher pension applications. 'For offices having less than 5,000 applications with joint options, the final deadline for completing the examination of all pending applications will be January 25, 2025. For all other offices the deadline is set for February 7, 2025. All clear cases for PPO issuance should be completed at all offices by January 24, 2025,' the EPFO chief had said in his letter. Nov-end 2024 Mar-end 2025 Demand letters issued 1.19 lakh 3.68 lakh Pension Payment Orders 16,282 34,500 Aanchal Magazine is Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and reports on the macro economy and fiscal policy, with a special focus on economic science, labour trends, taxation and revenue metrics. With over 13 years of newsroom experience, she has also reported in detail on macroeconomic data such as trends and policy actions related to inflation, GDP growth and fiscal arithmetic. Interested in the history of her homeland, Kashmir, she likes to read about its culture and tradition in her spare time, along with trying to map the journeys of displacement from there. ... Read More
Hans India
20-05-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Inflation burden eases further in April for India's farm and rural workers
New Delhi: The year-on-year inflation rates based on the all-India consumer price index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) and rural labourers (CPI-RL) for April this year eased further to 3.48 per cent and 3.53 per cent, respectively -- compared to 7.03 per cent and 6.96 per cent in April 2024 -- bringing respite to poor households, the government said on Tuesday. The inflation rate has also come down on a month-to-month basis as corresponding figures for March 2025 stood at 3.73 per cent for CPI-AL and 3.86 per cent for CPI-RL. The inflation rate for agricultural and rural labourers has been steadily declining over the last six months. This comes as a welcome relief for these vulnerable segments that are hit hardest by spiralling prices. It also leaves more money in their hands to buy a wider range of goods, leading to a better lifestyle, according to figures released by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The decline in inflation for farm and rural workers has also come in the backdrop of a fall in the country's overall retail inflation to 3.16 per cent in April from 3.34 per cent in March to its lowest level since July, 2019 as food prices eased further bringing respite to household budgets. Food inflation, which accounts for nearly half of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket, slowed to 1.78 per cent in April, compared to 2.69 per cent in March. This is for the third month in row that inflation has stayed below the RBI's 4 per cent medium-term target and will enable the central bank to continue with its soft money policy to spur economic growth. Retail inflation in the country has been on a declining trend in recent months. The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee has reduced its inflation forecast for 2025-26 to 4 per cent from 4.2 per cent earlier as the 'outlook for food inflation has turned decisively positive,' RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said during the monetary policy review meeting recently. The outlook for food inflation has turned decisively positive. The uncertainties regarding rabi crops have abated considerably and the second advance estimates point to a record wheat production and higher production of key pulses over that last year. Along with robust kharif arrivals, this is expected to set the stage for a durable softening of food inflation.
Time of India
04-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Process review likely for firms surrendering EPFO exemption
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Popular in Economy The Ministry of Labour and Employment plans to review the process for the surrender or cancellation of the exempted status given to employers under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to protect workers' employing workers above a certain threshold can seek exemption and manage provident fund contributions in-house under the EPFO's watch. Employers surrendering their exempted status would come under the EPFO, which would then manage the PF money of their new rules, while trying to speed up the process, would impose greater accountability on employers that surrender their exemption, according to the draft minutes of a February meeting of EPFO's central board of members of the central board of trustees have complained about issues such as inclusion of illegal migrants and other fraudulent practices, unavailability of data and employers failing to take accountability that delay the process of surrender or cancellation of the exempted status, impacting subscribers, as per the draft minutes, which ET has seen.A committee will be set up to look into the necessary changes needed to procedures governing the surrender and cancellation to ensure the process is transparent with a minimum scope of any fraudulent revamped standard operating procedures will also work towards fast-tracking the process so that applications are processed in a time-bound manner without a lag. This will help the EPFO get more and employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya, who is the chairman of the central board of trustees, in its last meeting held in February directed the retirement fund body to constitute a committee to review the SOPs and to give recommendations for consideration of the executive committee and the board, according to draft minutes of the 237th meeting of the that wish to manage the provident fund corpus of their employees need to seek exemption under Section 17 of the EPF Act, enabling them to manage their own PF trusts without making statutory such exempted establishments are statutorily mandated to provide benefits that are at least on par with those provided by the EPFO to subscribers and comply with the notified conditions of exemption as outlined in the data show India had 1,002 exempted establishments as of March 31, 2023, managing a corpus of ₹352,000 crore belonging to 3.12 million the last two years (2023 and 2024), 27 establishments surrendered their exemption, adding about 30,000 employees and ₹1,689 crore to EPFO's funds. In FY24, 17 establishments applied for surrender against 14 in 2022-23 and three in 2021-22. Another 15 surrender and 14 cancellation cases were proposed for consideration in the February establishments can approach the EPFO to give up their exempt status.
New Indian Express
02-05-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
June deadline to provide health benefits
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Labour and Employment plans has fixed a deadline of June-end to provide health coverage to all the gig and platform workers in the country, said Labour Ministry sources. Over 1 crore workers are presently employed in these fields which cover delivery, ridesharing, logistics and other professional services. A source said, 'The Labour Ministry has written to aggregators of all services across the country including major ones like Swiggy, Zomato, Uber, Ola and Rapido, asking them to onboard their workers on to the Ministry's e-shram portal at the earliest. Workers are also encouraged to register on the portal. We have fixed a deadline of June-end to ensure all of them are covered under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY).' Recognising the contribution of the workers to the country's economy, the 2025-2026 budget announced coverage for them under AP-PMJAY. The AB-PMJAY health scheme provides a cover of Rs 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization across over 31,000 public and private empanelled hospitals in India. A recent report by NITI Aayog has projected that the gig economy in India will employ nearly 2.35 crore by 2029-30. A parliamentary standing committee report on Labour tabled in the Lok Sabha by MP Basavaraj Bommai in March had stated that of the nearly 35 lakh platform workers eligible for registration on the e-shram portal which offer them health, social security and numerous other benefits, only 70,306, have registered upto February.
