Employees’ provident fund (EPF) member accounts of 98% of contributory firms or establishments have been updated with the latest interest credit till March 6, 2023, Parliament was informed on Monday.
Many members and employees’ representatives have raised the issue of not crediting the rate of interest on EPF for 2021-22, which was fixed at 8.1%.
“This (interest crediting) is an ongoing process, which has been taken up in a scheduled manner post development of software and by March 6, 2023, the process has been completed in respect of 98% of contributory establishments,” stated minister of state for labour and employment Rameshwar Teli in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday.
As per the provisions of Paragraph 60 (1) of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, 1952, EPFO shall credit to the account of each member interest at such rate as may be determined by the central government in consultation with the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).
Till March 6, 2023, accounts of members of 98% of the contributory establishments have been credited with interest, Teli said, adding that this is an ongoing process, which is taken up in a scheduled manner without hampering the regular claim settlements.
Teli explained that account updation with interest credit is a comprehensive exercise requiring scrutiny of each individual transaction made in respect of each and every individual member’s accounts, thus making the entire process very exhaustive.
Updating a member’s passbook with interest is an entry process only, the date on which the interest is entered in the passbook of the member has no actual financial bearing as the interest earned for the year, the minister explained.
The monthly running balances are always added to the closing balance of that year. Hence, the member does not suffer any financial loss, he added.
He pointed out that due to the introduction of the new TDS (tax deductions at source) provision from 2021-22, the accounting process had to undergo a major revision, making the exercise more tedious, and warranting an enhanced level of scrutiny.
It was also necessary to make revisions to the passbook of the members so that it provides entire information to them in a simpler and readable form. The process required new development, testing, debugging and stabilisation of critical elements of the software, he stated.
Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has settled more than 3.6 crore claims submitted by members with up-to-date interest, he stated.
Meanwhile, all eligible pensioners under the EPS 95, who retired before September 2014 can apply to opt for a higher pension by May 3 this year.
The deadline to opt for higher pensions for these pensioners had ended on March 3, 2023.
“Now, on demand of the employees’/employers’ associations, the Chairman, Central Board of Trustees has extended the time for submitting applications for validation of joint options from such employees till 3rd May 2023,” a labour ministry statement said on Monday.
(With PTI inputs)
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