Labour Ministry to auto-refund small balances in inoperative EPFO accounts

Pilot to cover 7.11 lakh inoperative EPFO accounts with ₹1,000 or less; funds to be auto-credited to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts without fresh claims

The Ministry of Labour and Employment has cleared a pilot project to automatically refund small balances from inoperative Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) accounts without requiring members to apply, said officials aware of the development. 

There are a total of 3.186 million  inoperative accounts with the EPFO, with deposits amounting to ₹10,903 crores. Of these, 7,11,000 accounts contain balances of ₹ 1,000 or less, with ₹ 30.52 crore lying unclaimed in them. These small balance accounts will be part of the pilot phase. 

After the 2016 amendment to the EPF Scheme, 1952, an account becomes inoperative only after a member turns 58 and fails to withdraw the balance. Inactivity alone does not trigger inoperative status. All EPF accounts — whether active, inactive, or without contributions — continue to earn interest until the member reaches 58 years of age. Interest stops only after the account becomes inoperative post-58. 

Some of these accounts where no transaction has been made in the last three years, are as old as 20 years, according to one of the officials. 

“This initiative will be undertaken by the EPFO without members having to apply for the process. The EPFO will identify these accounts and take it forward from there,” said the second official.  The official added that often members need to go through a lot of paperwork even for filing claims for very small amounts of money and the ministry is trying to eliminate this problem. The seven lakh accounts that have been identified for the pilot phase have Aadhar-seeded bank accounts, details for which are available with the EPFO. This will allow the retirement fund manager to credit the money bank to their bank accounts. 

The remaining inoperative accounts could also be brought under a similar automatic refund system if the pilot project proves successful, said the officials. 

Merit-based scholarship  in scheme for kids of unorganised workers 

The Ministry of Labour and Employment on Monday said that the Centre’s welfare scheme for education for children of unorganised workers will now allow eligible students to simultaneously avail welfare-based and merit-based scholarships.  

“The revised approach will allow a student who is availing the ministry’s welfare-based scholarship to also receive a merit-based scholarship from any central or state government agency, wherever eligible,” the labour ministry said in a statement.  

The reform, in line with the Code on Social Security, 2020, that seeks to bolster social protection and eliminate earlier restrictions that limited access to overlapping financial benefits.  

“The measure is expected to directly benefit the wards of beedi, cine and non-coal mine workers by improving access to higher education and reducing dropout rates,” the statement said. 

The labour ministry administers the welfare-oriented Labour Welfare Scheme (Education Component), which is designed to reduce financial hardship and promote educational continuity among vulnerable worker households.