EPFO increases auto settlement limit for advance claims to ₹5 lakh

The move allows EPFO's 75 million subscribers to withdraw advances for education, illness, marriage and housing without human intervention up to ₹5 lakh

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Tuesday increased the auto-settlement limit for advance claims to Rs 5 lakh, up from the current Rs 1 lakh, labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya told reporters.

 

The move will now allow nearly 75 million subscribers of the retirement fund body to withdraw funds through advance claims—for purposes such as education, illness, marriage and housing—without any human intervention from EPFO.

 

“The limit for auto settlement of EPFO claims has been increased to Rs 5 lakh. Such claims will be cleared within three days, similar to the existing process for auto claims. This growth highlights EPFO’s strong focus on automation and delivering faster, more efficient services to its members,” Mandaviya said.

 

 

The auto-claim settlement process—automatic processing of claims without human involvement—was first introduced in April 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic for illness and hospital-related advances.

 

Subsequently, the labour ministry expanded auto-claim settlement to include education, marriage and housing. In May 2024, EPFO increased the ceiling for auto-mode settlement of advance claims for these categories to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 50,000.

 

“This enhanced limit and faster access to funds will help family members receive timely financial support when they need it most. This step is part of EPFO’s broader push to improve service delivery through technology,” the labour ministry said in a statement. 

 

In the financial year 2024–25, EPFO processed a record 23.4 million advance claims through auto settlement—a 161 per cent increase compared to 8.95 million claims in 2023–24, the minister said.

 

Almost 59 per cent of all advance claims in 2024–25 were settled through auto mode, up from 31 per cent in 2023–24.

 

In the first 2.5 months of the ongoing financial year 2025–26, EPFO has already auto-settled 7.6 million claims, accounting for 70 per cent of all advance claims processed so far.