Summary of this article
EPFO is set to modernise provident fund withdrawals by enabling access via bank ATMs and UPI.
The rollout is expected by month-end.
The withdrawals, as per the new rules, will be capped at 75 per cent of the EPF balance to preserve long-term savings.
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to roll out employee provident fund (EPF) withdrawal from this month through bank ATMs and Unified Payment Interface (UPI). With this, the regulatory body is set to modernise its operations by making them automated and faster. This transition is expected to be completed by the end of the current month. This will mark a significant shift from the UAN-portal-based withdrawal system to bank ATM and UPI-based withdrawals.
The EPFO will launch a mobile application designed to integrate with the subscribers’ bank accounts. Subscriber will simply transfer their money from their EPF account to their bank account and then withdraw it through ATM or UPI.
To ensure its accessibility, the new platform will be linked to the BHIM app and various other third-party UPI apps. Currently, subscribers can check details and manage their accounts through the UAN portal or UMANG app, but withdrawal remains a cumbersome process.
New Withdrawal Norms And Limits
To facilitate this technological update, as per media reports, officials have announced a planned three-day blackout period of EPFO servers. During this transition period, all EPFO operations will be temporarily halted so that the critical server can be updated to allow UPI and ATM withdrawal transactions. Reportedly, an official confirmed that this maintenance is necessary for the seamless rollout of the new features, which is expected by month-end.
While UPI is being integrated with the EPF withdrawals, it will be under specific regulatory guidelines regarding the liquidity of the fund. Under the EPFO’s new rules, subscribers are allowed to withdraw up to 75 per cent of their total EPF balance, and the remaining 25 per cent of the corpus must remain in the subscriber’s account to ensure continued long-term savings. Now the withdrawal process will especially become easier, enabling subscribers to withdraw funds directly from their bank accounts.
Interest Rate Ratification And Financial Impact
This bank account and EPF withdrawal integration, which is to be rolled out tentatively this month, will be especially useful as the EPF interest is also expected to be credited by the end of this month. The subscriber would be able to withdraw money after the interest is credited. Recently, the government has ratified the interest rate of 8.25 per cent on EPF deposits for the financial year 2025-26.
The interest credit is expected to start being credited from this month. With the total corpus, close to Rs 26 lakh crore, the interest payout will provide direct financial benefits to more than seven crore subscribers.
EPFO has long been grappling with operational issues, an outdated IT system, and long operational processes, tedious paperwork, and manual intervention that gave rise to many complaints and long processing times; however, with several initiatives lately within the EPFO 3.0 system, the overall experience of subscribers is expected to improve.
