It’s great news for the 7 crore current members of the Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). EPF members will now get increased benefits from their provident funds deposited during debt claim settlements. EPFO has made many changes in the terms and conditions regarding the payments of interest on the EPF claims settlement period. Also, claims related to provident fund withdrawals of subscribers of EPFO will be processed even faster.
Rules Regarding EPF Claim Settlement
The Central Board of Trustees of the Employee Provident Fund Organization has authorized the amendment of the Article in the payment of interest during the EPF claim settlement. In this direction, the CBT has approved an important amendment to paragraph 60(2)(B) of EPF Scheme 1952.
Under the existing provisions of the EPF scheme, where the person on whose behalf EPF accumulates dies before the 24th of the month, interest will be paid only up to the end of the preceding month. But, the new definition now states that the interest on the provident fund of members of EPF will be calculated or paid till the date of settlement of the claim.
Now there will be more interest income on Provident Fund
This decision of EPFO will create more interest in the Provident Fund corpus for members of the EPF. Thus complaints by the subscribers can now reduce. With this CBT decision, interest will accrue to EPF members until the date of the claim settlement. Earlier, withdrawing money before the cutoff date of 24th attracted interest only up to the last month before that month; therefore, EPF members lost interest.
Interest will be available for the whole month
In order to protect EPF members against loss of interest under the current rule of EPF scheme which did not process claims for payment of interest from 25th of the month up to the last date of the month, after the new decision of Employee Provident Fund Organization now all this is done by processing claims throughout the month, thereby reducing pending cases, timely settlement possible, and resource can be utilized better.
Claim settlement of Rs 1.57 lakh crore in 2024-25
Until the year 2023-24, EPFO has settled 4.45 crore provident fund claims amounting to Rs 1.82 lakh crore. This year 2024-25, there is a total of 3.83 crore claims of EPF to the tune of Rs 1.57 lakh crore settled.
