Considering the fact that many of the PF members in need were unable to withdraw their balance because of being unable to produce valid papers, the EPFO has now said it will accept subscribers’ Aadhaar cards as a valid birth proof for rectifying their date of birth. This will ultimately ensure that the subscriber’s account is KYC compliant, aiding withdrawal or other transactions. The Labour Ministry stated that this move is expected to extend the availability and enhance the reach of online services during the time of Covid-19.
On 5 April 2020, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization issued the revised instructions to all its field offices asking them to allow the PF members to rectify their birth date in their respective EPFO records using their Aadhaar. According to the guidelines, Aadhaar will be accepted as a valid date of birth proof for the purpose of rectification only if the difference between the two dates; the one mentioned in the subscriber’s EPF account and the one mentioned on his/her Aadhaar, is less than 3 years. The correction requests can be submitted by PF subscribers on the online EPFO portal.
The officials have said that the Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI will help them validate and then authenticate the date of birth of the subscribers in an instant, thereby reducing the overall processing time of these requests. Additionally, the PPF members can also apply for a non-refundable advance from their PF balance if they are in a financial crunch at this time. The same can be done through the EPF Unified Portal. However, it must be noticed that there is a cap to the amount that can be withdrawn. PF subscribers are allowed to withdraw either 75% of their PF balance, three months’ basic pay or the actual amount required, whichever is lesser.
The PF withdrawal can be done only by the KYC compliant PF members. Now that the authorities have facilitated the use of Aadhaar Card as a birth proof to rectify their date of birth, the PF members can easily get themselves KYC compliant. This decision is believed to positively affect 90% of the 60 million PF subscribers who fall under the salary bracket of Rs.15,000 per month.