Rs 280 crore withdrawn from EPF in 10 days after Govt allows 75% withdrawal amid coronavirus COVID-19 crisis

EPFO said in a release that it has so far remitted Rs 279.65 crore to 1.37 lakh subscribers under the special withdrawal window provided as part of the PMGKY package.

NEW DELHI: Nearly Rs 280 crore has been withdrawn in just ten days since the government allowed 75% withdrawal from the pension fund amid the current coronavirus COVID-19 crisis. The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) said in a release that it has so far remitted Rs 279.65 crore to 1.37 lakh subscribers under the special withdrawal window provided as part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) package.

Announcing the PMGKY package on March 26, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that nearly four crore workers registered with the EPFO can withdraw a non-refundable advance to the extent of the basic wages and dearness allowances for three months, or up to 75% of the amount standing to member’s credit in the EPF account, whichever is less.

After the FM’s announcement, the same was notified by the EPFO on March 28. 

Anticipating a huge surge in demand, the EPFO also came out with new software for online receipt and settlement of claims and deployed the software on March 29.

“It may be informed that since the introduction of this scheme, the EPFO across the country has processed about 1.37 lakh claims disbursing an amount of Rs 279.65 crore and the remittances of the money have already started. The system as it stands today is processing all applications which are fully KYC-compliant within less than 72 hours,” the EPFO said in a release.

An EPFO subscriber can also apply for a lesser amount. Being an advance, it does not attract income tax deductions.

Claims for availing of advance to fight the pandemic are to be filed online, necessitating every EPF account to be KYC-complaint as the pre-cursor. 

In order to help millions of its subscribers, the organisation has also relaxed the criteria for correction in date of birth to ease KYC compliance. 

It accepts the date of birth recorded in the Aadhaar card of a subscriber as a valid proof for rectification of the date of birth in PF records. All cases with variation in date of birth of up to three years are now being accepted by the EPFO.

Amid all this, the government is planning to allow subscribers of the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) for a partial withdrawal from employees' contribution as the current lockdown to battle COVID-19 has crippled the monetary power of workers in the unorganised sector.

News agency PTI reported that the government circular would be out in a day or two for adding COVID-19 as one of the conditions for partial withdrawal from pension fund by APY subscribers.

"In our regulation, we already have an enabling provision of partial withdrawal for specific purposes such as life-threatening kind of emergency, or some kind of critical illness and the likes. There we have done a classification that it should include COVID-19 also," Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) Chairman Supratim Bandyopadhyay said.

He said PFRDA has requested the finance ministry for enabling this provision. PFRDA runs two flagship pension schemes -- APY and NPS (National Pension System).

While the NPS caters to the central and state governments alongside autonomous bodies as well as individual taxpayers, APY is largely targeted for workers in the unorganised sector.

India's majority workforce is employed with this sector which is facing hardship due to the lockdown. Bandyopadhyay said there is unlikely to be any disruption in terms of PF contribution from NPS subscribers.