Over 4.72 crore subscribers of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will soon be able to track status of their claim settlement and account transfer online and also get updates on their mobile phones.
This will be possible as the entire data of the retirement fund manager EPFO will be digitalised by March end.
"We have already completed the digitalisation of data at our 113 offices and the work in the remaining seven offices would be completed by t
he end of next month," Samirendra Chatterjee, commissioner, Central Provident Fund said.
"Once the digitalisation process is completed, the account transfer and money withdrawal claims' status could be done and tracked online by EPFO subscribers on the mobile phone," he said.
Besides, the subscribers would be intimated via short mobile messages (SMS) about the status of their request for account transfer and claim settlement.
In case of account transfer, the subscribers would get two messages on his or her mobile - first stating that the account is closed followed by one about the amount of money transfered from old to new one, an EPFO official involved in the project said.
Similarly, in claim settlement requests, first SMS message would be for intimating that the EPFO has received their application.
When the claim is settled, applicant would get another message stating the amount is credited in the specified bank account.
However, the official said, this facility could only be possible when the subscribers provide their mobile phone numbers in their application forms.
There are people who hesitate to provide mobile numbers, Chatterjee said.
Asked about applying online for account transfer and claim settlement, he replied, "That would be possible in the next phase. But through digitalisation we would try to adhere to the norm of settlement of claims and account transfer in a month's time."
At present, it takes months to settle claims and transfer of accounts because everything is done manually
