The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced several significant changes this year to simplify employee access to accumulated funds, as well as to facilitate account transfers and fund withdrawals without the need for paper documentation. Below are five key changes that are being implemented or may be introduced in 2026.
The first change concerns the expansion of automatic settlement benefits. Ramesh Krishnamurthy, the Central Commissioner of EPFO, announced in May that an automatic settlement function, previously only available for partial withdrawals, is planned to be launched. Now, the automatic settlement process will be expanded to cover final withdrawals as well. It should be noted that the automatic settlement mechanism only processes requests for advance withdrawal amounts up to 500,000 rupees.
The second change relates to activating UAN through the Umang application. The activation of the Universal Account Number (UAN) has now been moved to the Umang application. New and existing EPFO members will no longer be able to activate or generate their universal account number through the integrated member portal, as both services have been migrated to the Umang application, which requires Aadhaar-based facial authentication. This step was taken following a major software and database update to enhance the reliability and speed of EPFO's online services.
The third change pertains to the automatic transfer process for PF funds. EPFO has simplified the procedure for transferring pension savings when changing employers. According to the EPFO website, for UAN holders linked with Aadhaar and meeting KYC requirements, the entire process becomes automatic. This eliminates the need to submit separate transfer applications and reduces bureaucratic burden. Previously, transferring PF accounts required submitting requests to the previous employer, the new employer, and the EPFO office.
Central Commissioner of EPFO Ramesh Krishnamurthy also provided an important update regarding the expedited settlement of PF withdrawal claims. He stated that most new PF withdrawal requests submitted by EPFO members will be settled on the same day or within a maximum of two days. For pension claims falling under the EPF-2026 conditions, a strict deadline of 20 days has been set. If EPFO fails to settle a request within this period without valid documentation, an annual interest rate of 12% will be charged on the held amount.
The fifth change concerns receiving PF funds via UPI and ATM. It is expected that the ability to settle employee fund claims through the BHIM application will soon be launched, allowing received funds to be directly credited to members' bank accounts linked with UPI. In July, the Minister of Labour stated that the claim settlement process through the BHIM application would begin, and it was expected to happen within a month. Furthermore, a feature for withdrawing PF funds via UPI-ATM may appear soon, although there are no further clarifications on this matter yet.
