DELAYED CLAIMS CHIP OFF EPF POPULARITY? WHAT YOU CAN DO

The Employees' Provident Fund remains the most popular retirement saving tool for the majority of Indians. Of late, there has been an increase in the number of claim rejections, putting investors in a quandary. We tell you what can lead to such rejections and what you can do to deal with or avoid such a situation

- Meghna Maiti

RAHUL CHHABRA

Age 50

Delhi

His claims were rejected on techical grounds. Even after the rectifications, he is yet to receive the claim from EPFO

Early in February, the Provident Fund (PF) office at Kaloor in Kochi, Kerala, went into a tizzy, when an old man was found to have consumed poison on the premises. That was the day when K.P. Sivaraman, a 69-year-old who had become almost a permanent fixture at the office for the last nine years in the hope of getting his Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) balance disbursed, lost all hope, and decided to end his life. He was rushed to a hospital, where he breathed his last after a few hours.

His PF application was continuously rejected over the last nine years for some technical reason or the other and he was last told to produce his school certificate, which he couldn’t procure as his school did not have old records. Ironically, the PF was paid out a month later to his wife without the need for any additional document, except the ones that nominees are expected to submit.

Any organisation that employs 20 people or more has to mandatorily register with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). According to official data from EPFO from financial year 2022-23, out of 7.38 million claims received for final PF settlement, 33.8 per cent (2.49 million) were rejected, while 4.66 million were settled.

The rejection rate in 2022-23 is significantly higher compared to previous years, with rejection rates of around 13 per cent and 18.2 per cent in 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively. The rejection rate continued to rise in subsequent years, reaching 24.1 per cent in 2019-20 and 30.8 per cent in 2020-21 for final settlement claims. In the financial year 2021-22, the rejection rate further increased to 35.2 per cent for final settlement claims.