Joy! You will get Employees' Provident Fund interest money soon: How to check PF balance online

Good times are here for all Provident Fund subscribers as they are set to get better than expected amounts of money in their EPF accounts! Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar gave good news to millions of government employees last week by announcing that they will get an interest of 8.65 per cent on Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) for the financial year 2018-19. He said that the interest will be credited in the accounts of all EPF users soon. "The finance ministry does not disagree with 8.65% interest on the EPF for 2018-19. I believe that it will soon be notified," Gangwar told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on private security guards at Ficci.

This came after EPFO's apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees, headed by the labour minister, deciding to raise the interest rate on the EPF to 8.65% for 2018-19 in February this year. This was the first increase in the last three years. In April, the Department of Financial Services (DFS) had given its concurrence to the EPFO's decision to provide 8.65% interest rate for 2018-19. However, a notification is needed from the labour ministry for crediting the interest amount into accounts of over 6 crore EPFO subscribers.

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How to check Provident Fund (PF) balance online?

- To check the PF balance online, you need the unique Universal Account Number (UAN). This can be generated by visiting the EPFO website - https://www.epfindia.gov.in/.

- On the website, go to the ‘For Employers’ section in the drop-down menu of ‘Our Services’ option.

- Click on ‘Member Passbook’ under the ‘Services’ option and login with the EPFO username and password.

- Click on the Member ID following which the EPF passbook will be displayed on the screen.

- You can download the EPF passbook from here.

The EPFO believes that there would be a surplus of Rs 151.67 crore after providing a 8.65% interest rate for 2018-19 on the EPF. It said that there would have been a deficit of Rs 158 crore on providing the 8.7% rate of interest on the EPF for the previous fiscal year. That is why the body decided to provide 8.65% interest rate for 2018-19.