Universal account number to facilitate provident fund portability

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a universal account number (UAN) for provident fund subscribers that will enable you to link you account to this number that will allow easier portability as well as allow ease of transfer directly to your bank accounts in the months ahead.

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An EPFO officer explained that the retirement savings body has already generated over 4.2 crore UANs and employers have been asked to provide the Aadhaar numbers, bank account numbers and permanent account numbers of employees. These will be then seeded into the 12-digit UAN.

While employers are currently going a little slow on the job currently, subscribers can also log on to the EPFO website and punch their current PF account number to get the UAN. They can then submit the required numbers to their employer who have upload them with their digital signatures. For employees of smaller establishments and those not using the online option, there is also a facility to submit the papers at PF offices across the country.

When someone switches jobs, the new PF account number will be tagged to the UAN.

Going forward, the official said, for withdrawals or loans, subscribers will have to fill up a form and can provide their fingerprint to a biometric reader and the amount will be transferred into the bank account within an hour, ending what used to a wait that often lasted months.

"This whole process may take six months or a year but the goal is to make life simpler for subscribers," the officer said, adding that employers will be nudged to speed up the seeding process.

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