The ministry of finance has recently given nod to 8.5 per cent interest rate on deposits in provident fund accounts for the year 2020-21. The decision, which will be implemented soon, has come as a good news to over six crore beneficiaries of Employees’ Provident Fund or EPFO as the retirement body will be crediting the amount into the account of the beneficiaries during the upcoming days. Earlier in October, representatives of the labour ministry had asked the finance ministry to fast track the decision to fix the interest rate at 8.5 per cent.
At least 12 per cent of an employee’s basic salary and performance wages is compulsorily deducted as provident fund, while the employer contributes another 12 per cent. If you are an employee, you can check your provident fund balance when your employer shares your EPF statement with you at the end of the financial year. With that being said, you can choose not to depend on you employer to share the details, as you can check the balance any time digitally using different methods. These include checking from the Umang App, EPFO member e-sewa website, SMS or missed call. Read more on them below.
Umang App
The Umang App of the government can be used by employees to view their provident fund balance. The app, launched by the centre, can be used to avail various government services under on umbrella. Using this, you can view your EPF Passbook, claim your provident fund and even track your claim. An employee just has to register on the app using the mobile number.
EPFO Member e-Sewa Portal
You will be able to check your PF balance using the EPFO portal run by the government using your activated Universal Account Number (UAN). You can also download and print your e-passbook using this portal.
For this, you have to log on to www.epfindia.gov.in and click on the ‘For Employees’ option under the ‘Our Services’ dropdown menu. Then, click on the ‘Member Passbook’ option under ‘Services’, where you have to provide your UAN number and password to view your passbook. You must have an activated UAN to access this service and it will not be available if your Universal Account Number has not been activated by your employer.
SMS Service
EPFO members, whose UANs are registered with the retirement body, can get details of their most recent contributions and provident fund balance though an SMS. All you have to do is send the SMS to 7738299899 with the text “EPFOHO UAN ENG”. ‘ENG’ here denotes the first three letters of your language of preference, in this case English. If you want to get the SMS in Tamil, you can write ‘TAM’, ‘BEN’ for Bengali, ‘HIN’ for Hindi and so on. The service is available in 10 different languages.
In this regard, you should also not forget to sync your UAN with your bank account, Aadhaar and PAN, as EPFO stores details of its members. You can also ask your employer to do the seeding for you.
Missed Call Service
Employees Provident Fund Organisation or EPFO members can check their PF balance by giving a missed call to the number 011-22901406. For this, you have to call from your registered phone number. The details will be provided to you if you are registered on the UAN portal.
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