The Ministry of Labour & Employment has instructed the retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to ensure that employees' Universal Account Number (UAN) is valid to benefit from the Employment Linked Incentive (ELI) Scheme.
According to the Union Budget 2024–2025, all eligible employees must activate their UAN and link their Aadhaar with their bank accounts to participate in the ELI Scheme. For employees to access various services, such as viewing and downloading PF passbooks, filing online claims, and receiving payments through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, UAN activation and Aadhaar seeding are essential procedures. To guarantee that all employees who joined during the current fiscal year receive benefits under the ELI Scheme, employers are asked to ensure that all procedures are finished by November 30, 2024. If more advice is required, it can be obtained from the relevant EPFO office.
"Since, the benefits under ELI Scheme, will be disbursed through DBT to eligible employees, Employers are urged to ensure UAN activation and AADHAAR seeding in Bank Account by 30th November 2024, in respect of all their employees who have joined in the current financial year, starting with the latest joiners," WPFO in a circular dated November 22 said.
EPFO logged a 9.33 per cent growth in net member additions in September at 18.81 lakh compared to the year-ago month, according to payroll data released on November 20.
The labour ministry said EPFO enrolled around 9.47 lakh new members in September 2024, representing an increase of 6.22 per cent over September 2023.
It noted that this surge in new memberships can be attributed to growing employment opportunities, increased awareness of employee benefits, and EPFO's outreach programmes.
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