PF withdrawals set to cross Rs. 400 Crore mark in Gurugram since April
Because of large scale job losses due to layoffs, closure of companies, and plummeting cash flows in the private sector triggered by COVID-pandemic, the Govt has allowed EPFO members to withdraw non-refundable advances from their EPF accounts to meet their financial emergencies.
NEW DELHI: At the time when the entire country struggles hard to fight the deadly Coronavirus pandemic, the Gurugram-based Regional Office of Employee’s Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) worked extra hours to the rescue of the needy and distressed employees and settled a record 1.41 lakhs COVID Advance claims and released a whopping amount of Rs. 394 Crores since April this year.
With a very high concentration of corporate entities including multinational companies (MNCs) in multiple sectors, EPFO’s Gurugram Regional office ranks among the top centers in the country with a very high number of members and huge intensity of the workload.
With over 20,000 companies on its list, the EPFO’s under-staffed Gurugram Regional office has a huge member base of about 17 lakhs.
Because of large scale job losses due to layoffs, closure of companies, and plummeting cash flows in the private sector triggered by COVID-pandemic, the Ministry of Labour & Employment has allowed EPFO members to withdraw non-refundable advances from their EPF accounts to meet their financial emergencies.
As per the EPF withdrawal rules, a member can withdraw an amount equal to three months of basic salary and dearness allowance (DA) or 75% of the credit balance in the account, whichever is lower.
According to sources, of the 2.18 lakh COVID Advance claim applications the Gurugram regional office received from EPFO members since April, it settled 1.41 lakhs claims and released a cumulative amount of Rs. 394 crores to the members till September 8, 2020. About one-third of the total settlements were done through an automatic settlement mechanism online without the members physically filing claims.
The amount disbursal pattern recorded so far since April suggests that the settlement amount could cross the Rs. 500 crore figure in the current month or by the first week of October.
Interestingly, the EPFO offices across India together disposed of about 37 lakh COVID Advance claims and disbursed Rs. 9,747 Crores as against 48 lakhs claims received since April.
EPFO is one of the world’s largest Social Security Organisations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken. As per the Annual Report 2016-17, at present, it maintains 19.34 crore accounts pertaining to its members.
Not an easy task for Gurugram Regional Office:
Gurugram with very high presence of labour-intensive industrial units and companies with large manpower base in sectors like e-commerce, airlines, automobile, ITeS (BPO/KPO/LPO), hospitality, manpower outsourcing, apparel exports, HR management, and others pose a challenge for the short-staffed EPFO office here, that reinvented its capabilities and available limited means.
During this difficult time when the COVID-induced lockdown period forced the regional office to work extra hours, it resorted to a multi-location settlement of claims. The EPFO Gurugram office employees hailing from neighboring towns like Karnal, Rohtak, and others were asked to not to join the office but to operate from the department’s local office close to their hometowns and settle claims, a new way out to the overflowing number of claims from members.
The officers here made optimum utilization of available manpower by resorting to new means such as introducing an employee roster system, reshuffling of staffers, and also the restructuring of the employee base to get the maximum output and yet save them from the onslaught of Coronavirus.
Doors closed for members but service continues:
Though the EPFO’s Gurugram Regional office currently has kept its main gate closed barring the members from entering the office to protect its employees from getting infected with Coronavirus as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to spike in Gurugram, it has set up special desks for attending to the EPF members through on its office’s periphery. The members visiting the office are attended to by the EPFO employees and their applications are received and acknowledged.
In a first, the EPFO office here has also started calling back the members visiting the office with their grievances and other concerns to keep a tab whether their concerns were addressed or not.
New EPF software likely in about a years time:
The existing online system of EPFO that the large member- base across India accesses on a day-to-day basis is an age-old software programme with limited bandwidth, and therefore has its own limitation especially considering the ever-increasing online traffic on this website www.epfindia.gov.in
According to EPFO officials, the ministry was working on introducing a new software-based online programme for speedy online maneuvering.
EPFO posts 126-question FAQs and 20-question COVID-19 Specific FAQs on its website:
To the benefit and clarity of the large-member base of EPFO, the department continues to post many types of FAQs from time to time. Apart from 126 frequently asked questions answered in the https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/FAQ.php, the department also posted FAQs on EPF advance to fight COVID-19 PANDEMIC on April 26, on https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_docs/PDFs/Circulars/Y2020-2021/covid_faq_26042020.pdf.
