EPF Claim Settlement Period Reduced To 10 Days: 5 Developments

EPFO or Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has reduced the claim settlement period to 10 days from 20 days. EPFO has also cut the grievance redressal period to 15 days from 20 days. The retirement fund body said this in a release dated June 13. "The claim settlement period has been reduced to 10 days from 20 days and grievance redressal period is reduced to 15 days from 20 days," according to EPFO's statement. The retirement fund body has been taking a number of steps to ease the process of claims for EPFO subscribers.

Here are other 5 latest developments:

EPFO has decided to make Aadhaar mandatory. EPFO said that all field offices have been directed to ensure that Aadhaar number is furnished by the employer in respect of all new members who join the EPS (Employees' Pension Scheme), 1995, with effect from 1st July, 2017 except North East States where it would be applicable with effect from 1st October, 2017.

EPPO also said that its e-court Management System was launched on 16th May 2017 to with the objective to making a "transparent and electronic case management system". "All paper/evidence/documents can be filed online and the status can also be viewed online," the retirement fund body said. "The objective of the project is a transparent and electronic case management system which will cater to aspirations of all stakeholders - the employers, the employees, litigants and CBT (Central Board of Trustees). It is a step towards paperless court system wherein court procedure of EPF & MP Act, 1952 and EPFAT will take place in a digital environment," the Labour Ministry had said in a statement earlier. Central Board of Trustees or CBT is the top decision-making body of EPFO.

Exempted establishments from EPF Act, 1952, have been cautioned that non-filing of returns for three consecutive months shall result in cancellation of exemption granted to the establishment. EPFO has launched new software to monitoring the performance of exempted bodies.

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For quick transfer of funds, and easier tracking, EPFO will make payments to beneficiaries through electronic or digital fund transfer system only, the retirement body said in a statement. Such move is likely to benefit 4.5 crores EPF subscribers and around than 54 lakh pensioners. This follows Labour Ministry making amendments in social security schemes administered by EPFO.

Retirement fund body EPFO will invest Rs 20,000 crore in exchange traded funds this fiscal, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had said earlier. The Finance Ministry had earlier notified a new investment pattern for EPFO, allowing the body to invest a minimum of 5 per cent and up to 15 per cent of its funds in equity or equity-related schemes. The EPFO had started investing up to 5 per cent of its investible deposits in ETFs in August 2015. In the first year (2015-16), Rs 6,577 crore was invested, while the figure for 2016-17 stood at Rs 14,982 crore. (ETFs are baskets of securities that are traded, like individual stocks, on an exchange. Unlike regular open-end mutual funds, ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like any stock)

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