Auto settlement of advanced claim limit of PF increased from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has given a go ahead to a proposal for enhancing the auto settlement of advanced claim (ASAC) limit of provident fund (PF) from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh, offering ease of doing business to its 7.5 crore members.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment processes 60 per cent of advance claims through online in an auto mode within three days.
The move was cleared by Sumita Dawra, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, in the 113th meeting of Executive Committee (EC) of Central Board of Trustees (CBT) held on March 28 in Srinagar. It will now have to be ratified by the CBT before it becomes norm.
The EPFO subscribers subsequently can claim up to ₹5 lakh PF through the ASAC.
The auto mode of PF claim settlement was introduced in April 2020 to allow subscribers get advance for treatment of illness.
Four years later, in May 2024, the EPFO increased the auto settlement of the advanced claim limit from ₹50,000 to ₹1 lakh, responding to feedback which flagged rising cost of medication and hospitalisation.
Later, the basket was enlarged by the EPFO to accommodate auto mode settlement of advance claims for 3 more categories of education, marriage, and housing.
Rejection of claims ratio reduced to 30%
Sources said the rejection of claims ratio has also been reduced to 30 per cent, from 50 per cent last year.
The EPFO processed 2.16 crore auto claims in the current FY up to March 6, 2025, a significant jump from the 89.52 lakh claims settled in FY24 due to changes introduced in the system, Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shobha Karandlaje, informed the Lok Sabha a week back through a written reply to a question raised by an MP.
Among the simplified process that include members with Aadhaar-verified Universal Account Numbers (UANs) have now been empowered to make corrections to their identification details without EPFO intervention, the Minister informed Parliament.
Shobha Karandlaje also stated that the claim settlement process will be further simplified with the centralisation of member databases under the Centralised IT Enabled System (CITES 2.01).
