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The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to allow the use of the WhatsApp platform for subscribers to avail various services, including viewing PF balances, the last five transactions, and claim status. The service will be available to all subscribers of the EPFO within a month.Talking to reporters in Delhi on Tuesday (May 19, 2026), Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the EPFO would also soon allow the use of UPI payment gateways to withdraw provident fund and transfer it directly to their bank accounts. He said the testing of the facility had been completed. “We have completed the testing of the facility where members can withdraw EPF (employees’ provident fund) through the use of the UPI payment gateway. The withdrawn amount will be directly transferred into the bank account of the member,” Mr. Mandaviya added.Fall in court casesMr. Mandaviya added that the EPFO’s “dedicated missions” such as “Nidhi Aapke Nikat (NAN)” programme resulted in the decrease in the number of cases pending with various consumer courts across the country. He said the number of pending consumer cases declined significantly from 4,936 as on April 1, 2024 to 2,646 as on March 31, 2026. “The overall pendency of litigation cases has reduced from 31,036 cases as on April 1, 2025 to 27,639 cases as on April 1, 2026, reflecting a reduction of 3,397 cases. This marks the lowest ever level of litigation pendency in the EPFO,” Mr. Mandaviya said.On using WhatsApp for EPFO’s services, a senior official said when a member sends a WhatsApp message to the EPFO asking for assistance, the EPFO would verify if the message was from the specific member’s registered mobile linked with the Universal Account Number (UAN). “If verified, simple ‘menu’ options will be presented to the member in the local language. The member can select from menu options, submit details or can click on replies to simple questions. The message is processed and is responded by a AI-driven chatbot directly or by searching through the EPFO database,” the official added.New portals for codesThe Ministry had launched the revamped and upgraded Shram Suvidha 2.0 (SSP 2.0) and Samadhan 2.0 portals on May 9, in alignment with the four Labour Codes. The upgraded portals were for strengthening labour law compliance and grievance redress mechanism while promoting ease of doing business, an official said. “The revamped portals are built on a modern, scalable and secure digital architecture with improved data management systems, enhanced analytics capability and automation of processes, enabling efficient handling of higher user traffic and large data volumes,” he added. Published - May 19, 2026 09:35 pm IST
