For millions of salaried employees in India, the Labour Ministry has announced a scheme that will directly benefit their finances.
Many people leave old jobs and forget about PF accounts with small balances. Because of this, crores of rupees remain stuck in the system.
Now the government has decided that money from all such inactive EPFO accounts with ₹1,000 or less will be automatically refunded. The biggest relief is that people will not need to visit any office to claim this money.
Is Your PF Account Inactive?
As per PF rules, if no contributions are made to an account for 36 consecutive months (3 years) by either the employee or the employer, it is considered “inoperative.”
Currently, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has about 31.86 lakh inactive accounts holding ₹10,903 crore in total.
Out of these, the government has identified 7.11 lakh accounts with balances below ₹1,000. The total ₹30.52 crore in these small accounts will be transferred directly to subscribers’ bank accounts.
How Will You Receive the Money?
The key feature of this scheme is that it is fully automatic. No forms or paperwork are required.
If your PF account is linked with Aadhaar
And your bank details (KYC) are updated
then the money will be credited directly to your bank account.
If the original account holder has passed away, the amount will be paid to the registered nominee or legal heir.
EPFO 3.0: PF Claims to Be Settled in 3 Days
The government is not only clearing old accounts but also upgrading the entire PF system under the EPFO 3.0 project.
Currently, PF claims take about 20 days to settle. After the new digital system is implemented:
Settlement time will reduce to just 3 days
Low-risk claims will be approved automatically by software
No manual verification will be needed
This will reduce corruption and increase transparency in the system.
Faster Complaint Resolution for Subscribers
The Labour Ministry is now conducting regular review meetings to resolve PF subscribers’ complaints. The government also plans to resolve inactive accounts with larger balances smoothly in the future.
This initiative will clean up old EPFO records and help millions of employees receive their hard-earned money without any hassle.
