EPFO Alert! EPF account holders are eligible for life cover up to Rs 6 lakh! This provident fund rule makes it possible

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) provides financial coverage to the EPF account holder post retirement. But, very few people know that EPFO provides life coverage too. It provides life coverage of up to Rs 6 lakh to an EPF account holder in case of death during service period. The life coverage is given to the EPF account holder under the EDLI 1976 rules.

Speaking on the EPFO rule that provides life coverage to the EPF account holder SEBI registered investment adviser Manikaran Singhal said, "The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) gives free life cover to the Provident Fund (PF) account holders. Each and every EPFO subscriber is insured free of cost under EDLI 1976 rules once his or her PF or EPF account gets opened. The EPFO subscribers are eligible for life cover up to 20 times of their monthly basic salary or Rs 6 lakh, whichever is minimum. The insurance claim can be done by the EPFO subscriber's nominee in the case of prolonged illness, accidental death or normal death. Life cover under EDLI is given one time to the nominee who has claimed EDLI claim."

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Highlighting upon the eligibility criteria for availing of this life cover under EDLI Rule 1976 another SEBI registered tax and investment expert Jitendra Solanki said, "This EDLI rule is applicable only on those EPF account holders who don't have group medical insurance. So, this rule is mainly helpful for the industries and factory workers who are generally not given group medical insurance by their employers." 

Solanki also said that the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) has sent its recommendation to the central government to fix minimum life cover at Rs 2 lakh. However, the center is yet to take any decision in this regard.