Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Chairs 236th Meeting of Central Board of Trustees (CBT), EPFO
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya Chairs 236th Meeting of Central Board of Trustees (CBT), EPFO
Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Labour & Employment and Youth Affairs & Sports presided over the 236th meeting of Central Board of Trustees (CBT), EPF in New Delhi today. Sushri Shobha Karandlaje, Minister of State for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Labour & Employment and Vice-chairperson of CBT, EPFO; Smt. Sumita Dawra, Secretary (Labour & Employment) and Co-vice chairperson of CBT, EPFO and Shri Ramesh Krishnamurthi, Central Provident Fund Commissioner and Member Secretary, were also present on the occasion.
It was informed to the Board about major initiatives taken by EPFO since the last meeting of CBT. It was informed that the limit for auto claims settlement facility has also been extended to Rs. 1 lakh from Rs. 50,000 which has also been extended to advances for housing, marriage and education. In this Financial Year, 1.15 crore claims have been settled in auto mode. The Board appreciated the fact that rejection ratio has come down to 14% in November 2024.
During the Financial Year 2023-24, EPFO settled 4.45 crore claims for an amount of Rs.1.82 lakh crore. In the current FY, 3.83 crore claims have already been settled for more than Rs.1.57 lakh crore.
With the implementation of CITES 2.01 project, EPFO is upgrading both hardware and software. Under the project 2.01 newer version of operating system is being deployed which will result in simplification of claim settlement process. Newer software module will enable UAN based accounting resulting in one member, one account system thereby reducing hassles for members in claim settlement.
Further continuing with the reform agenda many path breaking decisions were taken by the board during the CBT meeting. The major decisions taken by the Board in the meeting include:
Decisions for benefit of Members:
Till now, interest-bearing claims are not processed between the 25th and the end of each month to avoid loss of interest to the members. After this decision, these claims will be processed for the entire month leading to reduced pendency, timely settlement and optimized utilization of resources. It reflects EPFO’s commitment to efficient, transparent, and member-focused service delivery.
CPPS is set to be implemented as part of the EPFO’s IT modernization project, CITES 2.01, with a target operational date of January 1, 2025. It will benefit more than 78 lakh EPS pensioners of EPFO which includes streamlined pension disbursement across India, allowing pensioners to access their pension from any bank or branch nationwide, expediting claim processing and eliminating the need for bank visits for verifications or undertaking submissions.
Employer centric:
This amnesty scheme will support the implementation of Employment Linked Incentive Scheme, announced in Union Budget 2024-25, to foster employment generation and incentivize formalization of jobs in the economy. It is expected that several small establishments (under MSME sector or otherwise) may wish to avail of the benefits under the ELI Scheme but would be worried in enrolling under EPFO. This Amnesty Scheme would provide the confidence to such employers to enrol without any fear or additional financial burden.
Prudent investment of corpus for enhanced returns to members:
EPFO Establishment/ HR matters: