The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is the social security body that is responsible for running and supervising the largest mandatory state pension scheme for people in India. The EPFO assists the Central Board in administering a compulsory contributory provident fund, pension and insurance scheme for the workforce engaged in India. It is also the nodal agency for implementing bilateral social security agreements with other countries. These schemes cover Indian workers as well as international workers in countries with which bilateral agreements have been signed. As of May 2021, 18 such agreements are operational. The EPFO’s apex decision making body is the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), a statutory body established by the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. As of 2018, more than ₹11 lakh crore (US$157.8 billion) are under EPFO management.

On 1 October 2014, the Government of India launched a Universal Account Number for Employees covered by EPFO to enable Provident Fund number portability.

The question of providing for the future of industrial workers and their dependents after their retirement or premature death engaged the attention of the Central Government for a long time. The first Provident Fund Act, passed in 1925 for regulating the provident funds of some private concerns, was limited in scope. In 1929, the Royal Commission on Labour stressed the need for formulating schemes for instituting provident funds for industrial workers. In the Indian Labour Conference held in 1948, it was generally agreed that the introduction of a statutory provident fund scheme for industrial workers might be undertaken. To test such a scheme in a restricted field, the Coal Mines Provident Fund Scheme was launched in 1948. The success of this Scheme led to demand for its expansion to other industries.

The Constitution of India enacted in 1950, contains a non-justiciable directive that the State shall within the limits of its economic capacity make effective provisions for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old-age, sickness & disablement and undeserved want.

Accordingly, the last months of 1951 witnessed the promulgation of the Employees’ Provident Funds Ordinance. The Ordinance promulgated, on 15 November 1951, was replaced by the Employees’ Provident Funds Act, 1952 which extended to the whole of India except Jammu and Kashmir. The Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme, 1952, framed under section 5 of the Act was brought into force in stages and was came into force in its entirety by 1 November 1952. Industries such as cement, cigarettes, electrical, mechanical or general engineering products, iron, steel, paper, textiles (made wholly or in part of cotton, wool or jute or silk, whether natural or artificial) industries came under the implementation of the Act. The Acts and Schemes framed under it are administered by the Central Board of Trustees which consists of representatives of central and state governments, employers, and employees. The Board administers a contributory provident fund, pension scheme and an insurance scheme for the workforce engaged in the organized sector in India.
The board is chaired by the Union Labour Minister of India.

Presently, the following three schemes are in operation under the Act:

Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952
Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976
Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (replacing the Employees’ Family Pension Scheme, 1971)

The EPFO has the dual role of being the enforcement agency to oversee the implementation of the EPF & MP Act and as a service provider for the covered beneficiaries throughout the country. The Act is administered by the Central Board of Trustees, EPF a Statutory Board constituted by the Central Government under Section 5A of the Act. The CBT, as the Board is informally called, consists of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairman, 5 Central Government Representatives, 15 State Government Representatives, 10 Employees’ Representatives, 10 Employers’ Representatives with Central P.F Commissioner and the Member Secretary to the Board. The Executive Committee of the CBT is constituted from among the members of the CBT to assist the Central Board in the discharge of its function related to Administrative matters.

The officials of the organisation in the Cadre of Commissioners are appointed by the Central Board under Section 5D for the efficient administration of the Act and Schemes. To this end, the commissioners of the organisation are vested with vast powers under the statute conferring quasi-judicial authority for the assessment of financial liability on the employer, search and seizure of records, levy of damages, attachment and auction of a defaulter’s property, prosecution and arrest and detention of defaulters in civil prison etc.

Administratively, the organisation is divided into zones that are headed by an Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner. At present, there are 10 Zones across the country. Further below, the states have either one or more than one Regional Offices headed by Regional Provident Fund Commissioners (RPFC) (Grade I) which are again sub-divided into Sub-Regions headed by Regional Provident Fund Commissioners (Grade II). To assist them are Assistant Provident Fund Commissioners looking after the enforcement of the Act and Schemes. Many districts in the country have district offices where an assistant provident fund commissioner is stationed for implementation of the scheme and attend to grievances.

The total manpower of the EPFO is at present more than 20000 including all levels. The Commissioner cadre numbering 815 are recruited directly, competitively, through the Union Public Service Commission of India as well as through promotion from lower ranks. Subordinate Officers (Enforcement Officers/Accounts Officers) are also recruited directly in addition to promotion from the staff cadre of social security assistants.

Universal Account Number
The Universal Account Number (UAN) is a 12-digit number allotted to employees who are contributing to EPF. It will be generated for each of the PF members by EPFO. The UAN will act as an umbrella for the multiple Member Ids allotted to an individual by different establishments and also remains the same throughout the lifetime of an employee. It does not change with the change in jobs. The idea is to link multiple Member Identification Numbers (Member Id) allotted to a single member under a single UAN. This will help the member to view details of all the Member Identification Numbers (Member Id) linked to it.

The major benefit of UAN or UAN will include easy tagging of multiple Employee’s Provident Fund Member Id under a single number, thus reducing the confusion. The UAN will help in easy transfer and withdrawals of PF claims online or offline. Along with these services like Online Pass-Book, SMS Services on each deposit of contribution and Online KYC Update can be provided based on UAN number. One can transfer the balance from one EPF to his/her another EPF account with the help of UAN.

There are new UAN portal start to check EPF balance and nowadays all the details like how to check UAN status, download UAN EPF passbook, check EPF balance, provident fund claim, and many more facility provided by new UAN portal.

EPFO has now started to provide the refund of Administrative charges if all the KYC details are updated for all employees. This incentive program is announced for the Year 2016-2017.

The member who is unable to withdraw PF for any reason can withdraw without consent of employer. They can submit FORM 19 for EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and FORM 10C for EPS (Employees’ Pension Scheme) with any of the following officials attestation to EPFO office in which their EPF account is maintained and

A UAN provided by EPFO is mainly used to track PF balance and PF claim status.