The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has introduced a major update for its 80 million active members.
Now, whenever an employee changes jobs, their EPF funds will be automatically transferred to the new account.
Earlier, employees had to rely on their employer’s approval and manually submit a claim for the transfer.
With the new automated system, EPFO will handle the entire process directly, saving employees from the hassle of paperwork and HR follow-ups.
No Employer Approval or Form Needed
In the past, employees had to fill out Form 13 and wait for their previous employer’s verification — a process that often took weeks or even months.
Now, this has been completely digitized. When a new employer updates the employee’s joining date in the EPFO system, the transfer process starts automatically.
Employees no longer need to file any separate claim or wait for approval. This has made the process much faster and smoother.
One UAN for Life
EPFO has ensured that each employee will now have only one Universal Account Number (UAN) for life.
Earlier, mistakes sometimes led to multiple UANs for the same person, which caused issues during withdrawals or transfers.
The updated system prevents duplicate UANs from being created.
Using Aadhaar and e-KYC verification, both old and new PF accounts are linked to the same UAN, making account management seamless.
Faster Transfers with Aadhaar and e-KYC
Delays earlier were caused by mismatched employer signatures, incomplete KYC, or incorrect joining and exit dates.
EPFO has solved this with Aadhaar-based e-signatures, auto-verification, and real-time data exchange between employers and EPFO through API integration.
Now, fund transfers that used to take 30–45 days are completed in 7–10 days—and sometimes even sooner.
Automatic Balance Update in Passbook
Employees no longer need to manually check whether their old balance has been transferred.
Once the transfer is complete, the old passbook will show a zero balance, and the new passbook will display the total combined balance.
This feature ensures transparency and helps employees easily track their contributions and interest.
Mandatory Exit Date Update
Earlier, transfers were often delayed because previous employers failed to update the exit date. EPFO has now made this mandatory.
If the employer doesn’t update the exit date in time, employees can do it themselves using Aadhaar OTP verification.
The system auto-verifies this, ensuring no delay in fund transfers. This is especially useful when old employers are uncooperative.
Interest Will Continue During Transfer
Previously, if the transfer process was delayed, interest on the old account stopped accumulating.
EPFO has now clarified that interest will continue to accrue until the transfer is completed, ensuring the employee’s savings keep growing without interruption.
A More Transparent and Hassle-Free System
All these updates aim to make the EPF transfer process faster, simpler, and more transparent.
With the new digital system, manual documentation and employer-level delays are eliminated.
Through Aadhaar integration and real-time automation, employees now have full control, security, and transparency over their retirement savings.
