EPF subscribers alert! You won’t be able to access this service from today

In what comes as a new challenge for EPF subscribers, they won’t be able to partially withdraw money from their accounts, citing COVID-19 crisis. The government had given a major relief to salaried class when it announced that they can withdraw money from their provident fund account to meet the immediate financial requirements during the coronavirus crisis. 

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had allowed the EPF account holders to make non-refundable advances from their EPF accounts in case of financial emergencies caused due to the lockdown.

The government had eased the withdrawal rules of EPFO during the lockdown so that the EPF members could partially withdraw money from their accounts. This facility was, however, available only till 30th June 2020.

Since there has been no update from EPFO or government, the relief ended yesterday which means that EPF subscribers can no more access it. 

WATCH Zee Business TV LIVE Streaming Online -

The Labor Ministry has announced that the number of EPF claims have increased significantly following the announcement of the COVID-19 advance. Despite the crisis, offices in Mumbai, Thane, Haryana and Chennai zones are continuously open with fewer employees, but the workload on them has increased considerably. Corona crisis is more at these places due to which, the pending cases were increasing continuously.

EPFO is one of the world’s largest social security organisations in terms of clientele and the volume of financial transactions undertaken, its website claims. As per the 2016-17 Annual Report, the retirement fund body maintains over 19.34 cr accounts.