EPFO BHIM App: The benefits available to Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) members may be further enhanced. The good news is that within a few months, the EPFO may offer instant provident fund (PF) withdrawals through the BHIM app. This could benefit millions of members.
According to media reports, the EPFO’s move is aimed at improving the ease of access and flexibility of services for members, enabling them to withdraw their provident fund corpus instantly. This facility is similar to the ATM withdrawal service.
The EPFO is working with the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India). This initiative will allow withdrawals for health, education, and special circumstances directly into a UPI-linked bank account.
According to reports, the ability to instantly withdraw money from your PF account through the BHIM app could be launched within the next two to three months. This will allow you to claim PF advances under any approved category. Initially, this feature will only work on the BHIM app, but it may be expanded to other UPI apps later.
The report quoted an official as saying that once the claim is filed, the EPFO will verify and authenticate it, after which the amount will be immediately approved through the State Bank of India (SBI). The amount will then be deposited directly into the member’s UPI-linked bank account. According to officials, there may be some initial limits to prevent misuse of this facility.
An official told that, “The entire amount cannot be withdrawn from the BHIM app as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set its own limit for withdrawals through UPI. There is some risk involved in withdrawing anything instantly. The limit has not been decided yet.”
The official said that this feature will be available only on the BHIM app. However, it may be extended to other UPI-based apps like PhonePe and Paytm in the future.