The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) intends to conduct a massive drive between January and June next year to enhance its subscriber base from the present 3.76 crore to 5 crore active members.
Revealing this to the media here on Thursday, Central Provident Fund Commissioner V.P. Joy said the organisation had already launched a campaign to ensure that all EPF contributors have bank accounts and Aadhaar enrolment. “Right now, only 50 per cent of them have bank accounts,” he said, adding that bank accounts and Aadhaar would be linked to the respective EPF accounts.
The EPFO, he said, was also in the process of putting in place a centralised system of maintaining data in order to deliver hassle-free services to subscribers. “At the moment, individual offices are storing data pertaining to EPF accounts in the respective regions. We have so far integrated 30 of our 123 offices by way of a centralised data maintenance system. The remaining offices will be integrated into this centralised network within a month’s time, which will do away with issues arising from transfer of EPF member from one region or zone to another. Also on the cards is centralised delivery of services online or on mobile platforms. This will optimise the system of UAN (Universal Account Number),” he added.
Mr. Joy said the organisation had proposed to the government a society housing scheme for low-income group members based on their existing and future credit. On approval, this will be dovetailed with the Central government’s Housing for All scheme with loans of up to Rs.6 lakh with a subsidised interest rate of 6 per cent.
The Central PF Commissioner said it was the responsibility of companies to remit employees’ PF contribution with the EPFO every month before 15.
