A statement issued by the Ministry of Labor said, “The EPFO working under the Union Ministry of Labor and Employment has settled a total of 12.91 lakh claims. It also includes 7.40 lakh Kovid-19 claims under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) package.
EPFO has so far settled claims worth Rs 2,367.65 crore related to Kovid-19. During this period, the Exemplified PF Trust has settled claims significantly. According to the ministry, as of April 27, 2020, the Executed PF Trusts have given a total amount of Rs 875.52 crore as PF Advance to 79,743 members.
Private PF trusts manage the money of their employees’ PFs and maintain their own accounts. These trusts are not required to file PF returns every month. Hence they are called as Expected Establishment.
The ministry has said that Tata Consultancy Services (Mumbai), HCL Technologies Ltd. (Gurugram) and HDFC Bank (Powai, Mumbai) are the top three exempted organizations in terms of number and amount of claim settlement.
Under the PMGKY scheme, there was a provision for withdrawal from the EPF scheme for the salaried class during the lockdown applicable to compete with Kovid-19. Under this provision, PF subscribers can withdraw three months’ salary and dearness allowance or whatever is less in the amount deposited in the member’s contribution to the PF account.
