EPFO crackdown targets old PF accts

We have currently started the service in four centres North Delhi,Faridabad,Karnal and Gurgaon but by next week it will be available at all our 120 offices, an EPFO official said.

The facility would allow subscribers to electronically transfer funds from their old account to their new account using the National Electronic Fund Transfer system. Further,the regional PF office (where the subscriber has the old account) would also email the account details to its counterpart (where the new account is set up).

The account details would be transferred within 24 hours and the PF office will send a written communication as well as an SMS alert to the subscriber confirming it, the official said adding that the whole process would be finished within 30 days or even less.

As an added incentive,subscribers who have applied for a transfer of their PF account will continue to earn interest on their savings until it is merged with the new account. At the end of the year,the interest on the old account will be credited to the new account.

As reported by The Indian Express earlier,the EPFO had decided to start an online service that would help subscribers transfer their PF accounts swiftly every time they changed jobs,rather than go through the current cumbersome process which can take over a years time.

Most subscribers simply prefer to withdraw their money from their old PF account every time they switch a job. In fact while 36 lakh people withdrew their savings from the EPF in 2009-10,only 3 lakh members decided to transfer their PF accounts.

The Central Board of Trustees of the EPFO has decided to stop paying interest on inoperative accounts from April 2011. The EPFO expects about half of these accounts to be closed as a consequence,with subscribers either withdrawing their PF money or transferring it to new accounts.