What is the story about?
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to introduce a number of changes, including a new portal. Dubbed EPFO 3.0, the new phase of reforms aims to be user-friendly.
A big change awaiting users is the ability to withdraw their employees' provident fund directly through the UPI payment gateway. The retirement fund body will streamline its operations to help users access its site better.
Let’s take a closer look.
The EPFO has planned a series of reforms to adapt to future needs. The retirement fund body’s website will witness a complete overhaul to make it more user-friendly, including featuring new software at the backend.
The website will be equipped with language translation tools backed by Bhashini, an AI-powered language translation platform developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, as per an
Indian Express report. “We will use more tools like Bhashini to give information in the vernacular medium,” an official told the newspaper.
The EPFO will roll out a centralised system of operations for its core banking solution, like banks. With this, members will be able to access their accounts and resolve issues at any regional office in the country, benefiting employees who have to shift across cities for work.
Following the implementation of the Labour Codes, the EPFO will cover both unorganised and organised sector workers.
As per the report, the fund body is likely to be tasked with administering the fund for unorganised workers, which would be separate from the social security fund for gig and platform workers.
Under the new Social Security Code, the EPFO coverage is mandatory for establishments with 20 or more employees, irrespective of the industry.
The EPFO has roughly eight crore active members and a corpus of around Rs 28 lakh crore. Come April, EPFO subscribers will be able to withdraw their funds using Unified Payments Interface (UPI) via the BHIM app.
A top source told PTI that some portion of the EPF will be frozen, while a large part can be withdrawn through their bank account using UPI.
The members will be shown their available balance for withdrawal and the minimum 25 per cent balance separately, a senior government official told Indian Express.
Currently, EPFO members have to apply for withdrawal claims to access their EPF money, which is a time-consuming process.
The new facility will benefit several EPFO members who will get access to their EPF money within three days for illness, education, marriage, and housing purposes. The move will also reduce the burden on the fund body, which settles more than five crore claims, mostly for withdrawing EPF, every year.
Inside talks are going on to cap the amount that can be withdrawn initially to Rs 25,000.
“Initially, a cap of Rs 25,000 per transaction has been proposed as anything instantaneous is prone to misuse. The users will also need to be careful with withdrawals with respect to the permissible frequency of withdrawals. Even though we are giving good flexibility now for withdrawals, the frequency has been defined for the three categories in a year. If a member withdraws the amount very quickly in two-three transactions, and though he/she may not have availed the full limit in amount terms, the eligible frequency may get exhausted,” the official told the newspaper.
The retirement fund body is advancing towards finalising the tender for selecting an agency to implement, run, and maintain an IT platform for the management of the social security schemes.
“The tender is broadly prepared, the financial vetting is underway. It will be floated soon,” the official told Indian Express.
Last June, the EPFO floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the selection of an agency for the tech platform and ended up shortlisting three companies — Wipro, Infosys and TCS.
In October, the
EPFO's apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), green-lit simplification and liberalisation of EPF partial withdrawal provisions.
It decided to merge the withdrawal categories from 13 to three types, namely essential needs (illness, education, marriage); housing needs; and special circumstances.
The EPFO has also expanded the minimum period for availing premature final settlement during unemployment from the existing two months to 12 months.
Last year in January, the fund body had permitted members to self-correct common errors in personal details such as name, date of birth, gender, nationality, father/mother’s name, marital status, spouse name, date of joining and date of leaving, without any verification by the employer or approval by the EPFO.
If the UAN was issued before October 1, 2017, the employer can correct the details of the employee without the EPFO’s nod. The requirement of supporting documents was also simplified for such cases.
This resulted in the execution of 32.23 lakh profile corrections, according to official data till December 2025.
With inputs from agencies
A big change awaiting users is the ability to withdraw their employees' provident fund directly through the UPI payment gateway. The retirement fund body will streamline its operations to help users access its site better.
Let’s take a closer look.
New portal & more for EPFO members
The EPFO has planned a series of reforms to adapt to future needs. The retirement fund body’s website will witness a complete overhaul to make it more user-friendly, including featuring new software at the backend.
The website will be equipped with language translation tools backed by Bhashini, an AI-powered language translation platform developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, as per an
The EPFO will roll out a centralised system of operations for its core banking solution, like banks. With this, members will be able to access their accounts and resolve issues at any regional office in the country, benefiting employees who have to shift across cities for work.
Following the implementation of the Labour Codes, the EPFO will cover both unorganised and organised sector workers.
EPFO is rolling out changes to make its website more user-friendly. Representational Image/Shutterstock
As per the report, the fund body is likely to be tasked with administering the fund for unorganised workers, which would be separate from the social security fund for gig and platform workers.
Under the new Social Security Code, the EPFO coverage is mandatory for establishments with 20 or more employees, irrespective of the industry.
UPI-linked EPF withdrawals soon
The EPFO has roughly eight crore active members and a corpus of around Rs 28 lakh crore. Come April, EPFO subscribers will be able to withdraw their funds using Unified Payments Interface (UPI) via the BHIM app.
A top source told PTI that some portion of the EPF will be frozen, while a large part can be withdrawn through their bank account using UPI.
The members will be shown their available balance for withdrawal and the minimum 25 per cent balance separately, a senior government official told Indian Express.
Currently, EPFO members have to apply for withdrawal claims to access their EPF money, which is a time-consuming process.
The new facility will benefit several EPFO members who will get access to their EPF money within three days for illness, education, marriage, and housing purposes. The move will also reduce the burden on the fund body, which settles more than five crore claims, mostly for withdrawing EPF, every year.
पेंशन स्टेटस जानना हुआ आसान!
ईपीएफओ की आधिकारिक वेबसाइट https://t.co/pBW8IOSFPd पर जाएँ, Pensioner मेन्यू चुनें और कुछ ही क्लिक में अपनी पेंशन से जुड़ी सभी जानकारी प्राप्त करें।#EPFO #EPFOWithYou #HumHainNa@narendramodi @mansukhmandviya @ShobhaBJP @PMOIndia @LabourMinistry… pic.twitter.com/9BZwrid3Fe
— EPFO (@officialepfo) January 19, 2026
Inside talks are going on to cap the amount that can be withdrawn initially to Rs 25,000.
“Initially, a cap of Rs 25,000 per transaction has been proposed as anything instantaneous is prone to misuse. The users will also need to be careful with withdrawals with respect to the permissible frequency of withdrawals. Even though we are giving good flexibility now for withdrawals, the frequency has been defined for the three categories in a year. If a member withdraws the amount very quickly in two-three transactions, and though he/she may not have availed the full limit in amount terms, the eligible frequency may get exhausted,” the official told the newspaper.
Tender to be floated
The retirement fund body is advancing towards finalising the tender for selecting an agency to implement, run, and maintain an IT platform for the management of the social security schemes.
“The tender is broadly prepared, the financial vetting is underway. It will be floated soon,” the official told Indian Express.
Last June, the EPFO floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) for the selection of an agency for the tech platform and ended up shortlisting three companies — Wipro, Infosys and TCS.
Previous EPFO reforms
In October, the
It decided to merge the withdrawal categories from 13 to three types, namely essential needs (illness, education, marriage); housing needs; and special circumstances.
The EPFO has also expanded the minimum period for availing premature final settlement during unemployment from the existing two months to 12 months.
Last year in January, the fund body had permitted members to self-correct common errors in personal details such as name, date of birth, gender, nationality, father/mother’s name, marital status, spouse name, date of joining and date of leaving, without any verification by the employer or approval by the EPFO.
If the UAN was issued before October 1, 2017, the employer can correct the details of the employee without the EPFO’s nod. The requirement of supporting documents was also simplified for such cases.
This resulted in the execution of 32.23 lakh profile corrections, according to official data till December 2025.
With inputs from agencies
