CII holds session with Central Provident Fund Commissioner

Bengaluru: Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) had organised an interactive session with Sunil Barthwal, Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) here recently. The session focused on the recent amendments, judgements and ease of doing business reforms by EPFO, Ministry of Labour and Employment. 

The session also deliberated on the compliance mechanism under Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, major initiatives by EPFO and challenges faced by different stakeholders.

Addressing industry leaders, Sunil Barthwal said that the purpose of the consultative session was to further improve the communication between EPFO and stakeholders. He enumerated the three principles that guide EPFO — ease of doing business to ensure a friendly and honest relationship between employers and EPFO, ease of living for employees brought about by digitisation and online services and lastly a good governance model that is transparent. 

e-inspection system 

He urged companies to focus on voluntary compliance rather than EPFO needing to exercise force. Barthwal announced that EPFO will be launching an e-inspection system that will simplify the inspection process and ensure that organisations with open communications will not be subjected to physical inspection until absolutely necessary.

EPFO has proposed to amend the Act to limit enquiry period to a maximum of 2 years in order to curtail harassment. He observed that a small percentage of employees are unable to generate Universal Account Number (UAN) due to mismatch in data. 

To alleviate this concern, he said that EPFO is looking at alternative authentication vis-a-vis the employee database. He added that the EPFO is working towards a 3-day settlement period for KYC (Know Your Customer)-compliant beneficiaries who have UAN linked to Aadhaar, have a bank account and a registered mobile number.

To decriminalise defaulters 

The Central Provident Fund Commissioner also proposed to set up a society of self-regulating consultants, similar to ICAI, in order to curb misuse and corruption. In a significant announcement for industry, he proposed to decriminalise defaulters and treat the cases as economic offences.

He suggested that a joint committee should be set up between CII, EFI and Industry representatives to collect and address all the issues. CII and EPFO have created a dedicated Help Desk to facilitate response to queries and issues raised by industry members related to PF.

Terming EPFO as the best and the largest pension fund in the world, M.S. Unnikrishnan, Chairman, CII National Committee on Industrial Relations, said that EPFO has the largest pension subscription in the world and manages fund value in excess of 178 billion dollars. He complimented EPFO in bringing down the settlement window to under 20 days, thanks to vibrant digital and online platforms. 

Officers from EPFO gave the participants a complete overview of the ‘Unified Shram Suvidha’ Portal and the latest initiatives by EPFO on ease of doing business.