After announcing liberalised withdrawal norms and a proposal to introduce a UPI-linked facility, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to kick off its next phase of reforms that include a new portal, new software at the backend to take into account all possible expansion over the next decade, and the use of AI-powered language translation tools to give information to members in vernacular languages, a senior government official told The Indian Express.
Branded EPFO 3.0, the revamp includes an overhaul of the Fund’s technology architecture as it moves towards a core banking solution. This comes in the backdrop of the retirement fund body expanding in scale to cover both organised and unorganised sector workers after the implementation of the Labour Codes.
The core banking solution is being seen as a crucial feature in this next phase of reforms as it will enable a centralised system of operations for the EPFO, the way it is for banks, enabling members to resolve their issues at any centre in the country.
It is learnt that the EPFO is likely to be handed over the administration of the fund for unorganised workers, which would be separate from the social security fund for gig and platform workers. The retirement fund body currently has nearly 8 crore active members and maintains a corpus around Rs 28 lakh crore.
“There will be a complete revamp under EPFO 3.0, new architecture, core banking solution at the backend. We will be able to cater in terms of scale, to all the organised and unorganised workers. It will take into account the increase in volumes. The entire system will change including the portal. As of now, incremental changes are happening, the next phase will take care of all future needs,” an official told The Indian Express.
In the next phase of measures, the EPFO also intends to make more use of language translation tools to reach its members by giving information in their vernacular medium. “We will use more vernacular tools like Bhashini to give information in the vernacular medium,” the official said. Bhashini is an AI-powered language translation platform developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Core banking solution key
Central to the next phase of EPFO reforms will be the core banking solution. It will enable a centralised system of operations and allow members to resolve their issues at any centre.
The EPFO is now in the final stages of finalising the tender for the selection of an agency to implement, operate, and maintain an IT platform for management of various social security schemes administered by it. “The tender is broadly prepared, the financial vetting is underway. It will be floated soon,” the official said.
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In June last year, the EPFO had floated an Expression of Interest (EOI) for selection of an agency for the tech platform, after which it shortlisted three companies: Wipro, Infosys and TCS.
The ongoing second phase of the reforms, EPFO 2.0, is in its final stages, with the UPI-linked facility expected to be rolled out by April and only three modules remaining to be rolled out.
“In September, we rolled out a revamped ECR (electronic challan cum return), an internal user management module which does the internal task allocation. Now we are left with just three modules – pension, claim and overall annual accounts. Work is going on, it is a matter of 1-2 months,” the official said.
The EPFO is working on bringing in a facility for its members to allow withdrawal of funds using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) via the BHIM app. The new facility will show members their available balance, which will be segregated to show the eligible balance for withdrawal and the minimum 25% balance separately, with internal discussions converging towards capping the initial withdrawal at Rs 25,000 per transaction.
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This follows after the EPFO announced liberalising its withdrawal norms after a Board meeting in October last year, streamlining the withdrawal categories from 13 to three – essential needs (illness, education, marriage); housing needs; and special circumstances. It also introduced two other significant changes regarding 25% minimum balance and premature final settlement in cases such as withdrawal at the time of unemployment.
The EPFO has been taking several measures to simplify the processes for its members including correction of details, and the claims settlement process. In January 2025, it implemented changes to allow members to self-correct common errors in personal details such as name, date of birth, gender, nationality, father/mother’s name, marital status, spouse name, date of joining and date of leaving, without any verification by employer or approval by the EPFO. Until December 2025, around 32.23 lakh profile corrections were carried out.
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