New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) saw a three-fold increase in provident fund withdrawal claims in the past three months through the government’s official mobile application, the government said on Monday.

The union labour and employment ministry said in a statement that the EPFO received 1.1 million claims between April and July 2020 through the UMANG mobile application – three times more than the nearly 397,000 applications received from December 2019 to March 2020.

The EPFO had on June 9 said that 3.6 million claims were settled between April and May 2020, compared to 3.4 million claims in the same period of the previous year. The claims led to disbursement of Rs 11,540 crore to subscribers during these two months. More than 40% of the claims, amounting to Rs 4,580 crore, were related to the COVID-19 advance facility.

Under the COVID-19 advance withdrawal facility, employees can withdraw EPF advance to the tune of three months of their wages or up to 75% of their balance, whichever is less. Employees have the flexibility to withdraw a lower amount.

By arrangement with Business Standard.

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