In 2025, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has launched a number of progressive reforms to make access to retirement savings easy, and increase transparency. These changes, in turn, will make the system more secure, faster and digitally charged, considering that the number of its members in India is more than 7 crore. Using UPI based withdrawals to centralized payment of pensions, EPFO is entering into a phase of convenience and control in the hands of employees and pensioners.
Instant Withdrawals via UPI and ATM
Among the most significant changes is possibility to withdraw the PF funds through the UPI or through the ATM without any delays. The members available in the EPFO portal can now simply log in to their portal and transfer their money by entering their UPI id and thus can gain benefit without submitting any document and waiting days until the claim is got approved. Such real time access is particularly useful in case of emergency and fits into the wider objectives of digital finance in India.
Simplified Transfers and Profile Updates
Shifting jobs will not be a tiresome exercise of transferring PF. All transfers made since January 2025 are automatic and do not need the approval of the employer. Members are also allowed to change their profile details through the internet, in absence of which, they need to have their Aadhaar linked with their UAN. This saves paper work and slows down correction.
Centralized Pension Disbursement
The Centralized Pension Payment System (CPPS) which was introduced in January 2025 enables the pensioners to get their pensions through any bank branch in India. This also avoids moving of Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) among regional offices. This is of big relief to those retirees who change banks or move to other places.
Higher Pension and Contribution Flexibility
The EPS now has an option of paying higher pensions to its employees whose monthly wages exceed the statutory wage ceiling at the moment. The limit of paying in the Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) has also been increased to 2.5 lakhs a year. The changes are more flexible to long-term savers and guarantee a more consistent pension structure.
Faster Claims and Enhanced Security
EPFO has raised auto-settlement and urgent claim limit of 1 lakh to 5 lakh to avoid delays in transfer of urgent claims. There has also been an upgrade on security like authentication using Aadhaar, two factor authentication and encrypted gateways on fintech. Such precautions keep the digital comfort free of data security cost.
Also Read: Unified Pension Scheme 2025: One Nation, One Pension System Explained