On account of its technology-enabled initiatives and ingrained scheme benefits, EPFO seems to be unfazed by the proposed flexibility for its subscribers to move to NPS. Bandaru Dattatreya, Minister of State for Labour and Employment speaks to Narayan Krishnamurthy and Prashant Kapoor.
The dynamics of the workforce have changed over the years. How well is EPFO geared up to service the growing needs of this dynamic workforce?
EPFO is rendering services to its subscribers since 1952. Presently, we have over 4.3 crore active members and we manage over 17 crore accounts. For the benefit of our members, we have been making effective use of the technology. For example, we are now using technology in account portability, account settlement and account updation. As of now, for 2014 and 2015, all the 17 crore accounts have been updated and presently all the claims are being settled within three days. Also, we are giving our subscribers the facility of getting the information regarding their account balances, pension amounts, etc., over the SMS, thereby relieving them from the inconvenience of visiting EPFO offices. Recently, we have also come out with an option for the EPF members wherein if they wish to defer their pension for two years after attaining the age of 58, then they’ll receive enhanced pension of additional 8.16 per cent of their original pension amount, or a 4 per cent increase for each.
There are talks of EPF subscribers to switch to NPS; what is the development on this front?
The EPF scheme is one of its kind and amongst the best in the world because under the EPF, subscribers receive pension benefits, disablement benefits, widow benefits, dependent benefits, etc. It is up to the subscribers to compare whether they will get similar benefits under NPS and the final judgment would be left in the hands of subscribers. However, for the subscribers who move to NPS, we’ll give them an option for them to come back to EPFO, if they want, after one year of their switch to NPS.
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