Under its circular dated November 22, 2024, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had mandated Universal Account Number (UAN) activation and Aadhaar seeding of the bank accounts for all employees in order to enable the direct benefit transfers under the proposed Employment Linked Incentive Scheme announced under Union budget 2024-25 (ELI Scheme). Under this circular, employers were urged “to ensure UAN activation and Aadhaar seeding in Bank Account by 30th November, 2024 in respect of all their employees who have joined in the current financial year, starting with the latest joinees”. However, this deadline has been subsequently extended from time to time, now set to expire on January 15, 2025.
The circular provides detailed procedural instructions to be followed in this regard by the employees.
The ELI Schemes were under introduced under the union budget 2024-25 to facilitate job creation and provide incentives to employers and employees. The Ministry of Labour and Employment is in the process of finalising the details of above schemes along with their implementation plan. As per the original circular of EPFO, since benefits under the ELI Schemes are to be given to the employees by way of direct benefit transfers, for these benefits to be credited into the beneficiary’s bank account, their bank account number must be seeded with Aadhaar.
EPFO’s directive would likely simplify the government delivery processes and eliminate the need to produce multiple documents. Activation of UAN on the EPFO portal provides employees access to their provident fund accounts, enables them to view and download PF passbooks, submit online claims for withdrawals, advances, or transfers, update personal details, and track claims in real time. Employees and employers must therefore act swiftly to ensure they are in a position to receive the benefits of the ELI Scheme.