NEW DELHI: The Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced the auto-mode settlement of advance claims for the purpose of education, marriage and housing. Earlier, the auto mode of claim was only available for the purpose of advances for illness.
The the retirement fund body has introduced in April 2020 the auto claim Solution, wherein claim is processed automatically by IT system without any human intervention.
Earlier, the limit for auto claims was Rs 50,000, which has now been enhanced to Rs 1 lakh.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, around 2.25 crore EPFO members are expected to reap the benefits of this facility in the current financial year. During 2023-24, EPFO settled around 4.45 crore claims, out of which more than 60% (2.84 crore) claims were advance claims. Out of total advance claims settled during the year, around 89.52 lakh claims were settled using auto-mode.
“The entire process in auto-settlement is IT system driven, eliminating human intervention. Any claim with KYC, eligibility and bank validation is processed for payment by IT tools automatically. As a result of this, the periodicity of claim settlement is reduced significantly from 10 days to within three-four days for such advances,” says the labour ministry release.
The claims that are not validated by the system are not returned or rejected. They are further undertaken for the second level of scrutiny and approvals.
The expansion of the scope of the auto claims to the housing, marriage and education purposes as well as enhancement will directly help many members to avail their funds within the shortest possible duration, which will substantially aid them in promptly meeting their education, marriage, or housing requirements.
Ever since its introduction pan India on May 6, 2024, the retirement fund body has approved 13,011 cases for `45.95 crore through the auto-settlement service.