The Hindu : Social Security Number for 50 lakh PF subscribers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 05, 2003

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Social Security Number for 50 lakh PF subscribers

By Our Staff Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 4. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to entrust the job of creating the required infrastructure for issuing the Social Security Number (SSN) to the UTI Investor Services Ltd. (UTIISL). A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of the EPFO here last week. The UTIISL which will help the EPFO in issuing SSN cards to over 50 lakh Provident Fund subscribers this year is expected to start work within 4 to 6 weeks.

The UTIISL has been appointed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes for issuing Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards to income tax payers. According to the Provident Fund Commissioner, Ajay Singh, the data collection would be carried out by the EPFO while the UTIISL will operate technical infrastructure for issuance of SSN on lease besides collate and despatch the cards. The data would be fed into the national data centre at Belapur in Maharashtra, from where the cards would be generated, Mr. Singh said.

In the initial stage, there would be six pilot projects at Delhi, Kota, Patna, Hyderabad, Indore and Mangalore that will be linked to Belapur. However, later when the EPFO building at Dwarka in the capital comes up, the data will be shifted there. As per the new system 106 sites across the country will be developed over a period of time from where subscribers can get information about their PF account from anywhere and the amount could be withdrawn from any designated ATM. As of now, the EPFO is planning to tie up with the State Bank of India for setting up ATMs and disbursal of funds.

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