New Delhi: Anirudh Prasad had applied for an advance for illness under para 68J on 09.05.2024. His advance claim was settled on 11.05.2024 for an amount of Rs. 92,143 within 3 days. There are many such stories like that of Anirudh Prasad in EPFO.
For enhancing ease of living for its crores of members, EPFO has now introduced auto-mode settlement of advance claims for the purposes of education, marriage, and housing. EPFO has introduced an Auto Claim Solution where claims are processed automatically by the IT system without any human intervention.
Auto-mode claim settlement was introduced in April 2020 for the purpose of advances for illness. Now this limit has been enhanced to Rs. 1,00,000. During the current year, around 2.25 crore members are expected to reap the benefits of this facility.
During the financial year 2023-24, EPFO settled around 4.45 crore claims, out of which more than 60% (2.84 crore) were advance claims. Out of the total advance claims settled during the year, around 89.52 lakh claims were settled using auto-mode.
To facilitate "Ease of Living," the auto claim solution has now been extended for all claims under para 68K (education and marriage purposes) and 68B (housing purposes) of the EPF Scheme, 1952. In addition, the limit has been doubled from the earlier Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,00,000. This move is expected to benefit lakhs of EPFO members.
The entire process in auto-settlement is IT system-driven, eliminating human intervention. Any claim with KYC, eligibility, and bank validation is processed for payment by IT tools automatically. As a result, the periodicity of claim settlement is reduced significantly from 10 days to within 3-4 days for such advances. Claims that are not validated by the system are not returned or rejected. They are further undertaken for a second level of scrutiny and approvals.
The expansion of the scope of auto claims to housing, marriage, and education purposes, as well as the enhancement, will directly help many members to avail their funds within the shortest possible duration, substantially aiding them in promptly meeting their education, marriage, or housing requirements.
Introduced on 6th May 2024 pan-India, EPFO has approved 13,011 cases for Rs. 45.95 crores via this initiative, providing speedy service.
