Easy withdrawal and claims processing for employee provident funds

Digital ID is linked to Universal Account Numbers (UANs) to facilitate seamless withdrawal and claims processing for employee provident fund benefits. The Ministry of Labour and Employment’s Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has collaborated with the UIDAI to integrate Aadhaar with the UAN system.

The UAN is a unique 12-digit number allotted to every EPFO member, which remains the same throughout their career, even when changing employers. It serves as a portable and permanent provident fund account identifier. Aadhaar-UAN linking enables employees to verify their identity during provident fund operations, which include EPF withdrawals, pension claims, transfer of funds between employers, and updating KYC details. Members can link their Aadhaar to their UAN through the EPFO Unified Member Portal or the UMANG app. They can provide their Aadhaar number and validate it through OTP authentication. As of September 2021, 94% of UANs have been seeded with Aadhaar, which represents millions of formal sector workers. The Aadhaar-UAN integration has enabled several innovations, which include paperless and presence-less claim settlement. Employees can submit EPF withdrawal claims online and do not need to visit EPFO offices or submit physical documents. Their claims are processed and approved within days, based on Aadhaar authentication. The system also supports the EPFO’s Automation of Field Offices (AFO) initiative and enables auto-settlement of claims under specified limits. The Aadhaar-EPFO integration has transformed social security administration in India as it enables instant, paperless provident fund claim settlement without employer attestation for Aadhaar-verified members. This reduces claim processing time from months to days or even hours, and eliminates the need for physical document submission and office visits. The integration also prevents fraudulent claims through biometric identity verification, facilitates portability of provident fund accounts across employers, supports financial security for more than 70 million formal sector workers, and ensures retirement savings reach rightful beneficiaries promptly.