EPFO to deploy new age tech to authenticate member records – The Times of India
NEW DELHI: In a big relief to millions of its members who face difficulty in validating their past service records while filing advance or final settlement claims, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to deploy new-age technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain and machine learning (ML) to authenticate member records, reports Shiva Rajora.“People who joined EPFO in the pre-UAN era often face difficulty in validating their past service records due to various reasons like the establishment closing or paperwork not being up to the mark. To resolve this, plans are afoot to use new age tech and build models that can help in arriving at a conclusion regarding the authenticity of the claim and the member,” an official told TOI.Use of these advanced technologies will assist members who are unable to merge their multiple member accounts with the universal account number (UAN) as they worked at different places in their career and some of these records might have got damaged. Besides, these technologies will be beneficial for members to claim inoperative accounts.Introduced in 2014, the 12-digit unique identifier UAN acts as an umbrella for all the member IDs from different employers, allowing a member to manage all provident fund related contributions under one single number throughout their career, thus simplifying tracking, transfers, and online access to their PF. For new members it also makes it easier to port their accounts as it is linked to UAN.Latest govt data shows that 20.3 crore UANs had been allotted till March 2024, while there were over 30 crore member accounts. Of these, 7.3 crore UANs are actively contributing to the retirement fund body.“Our highest priority are inoperative accounts. Efforts are being made to issue UANs to all EPFO members. Use of these new age models will help simplify joint declaration process as well,” the official said.
