Provident Fund (PF) is an important investment instrument and a mandatory contribution that helps employees save for their post-retirement life. It is a government-run scheme that is known as the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) in India. The EPF scheme is managed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) which is a statutory body under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Earlier, checking the PF balance required visiting the EPFO office or contacting the human resource (HR) department of the employer. However, with the advent of online portals and mobile apps, employees can now check their PF balance from the comfort of their homes. In this article, we will look at 4 simple online methods to check PF balance.
The EPFO has an online portal named 'Unified Member Portal' which allows members to register, activate their Universal Account Number (UAN) and access their PF account. The following steps can be followed to check the PF balance through the EPFO portal:
Step 1: Visit the EPFO website (https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/index.php)
Step 2: Click on the 'For Employees' tab and select 'Member Passbook'
Step 3: Enter your UAN and password (if you have already activated the UAN) and click on 'Login'
Step 4: After a successful login, select the member ID for which you want to check the PF balance, and click on 'View Passbook'
Step 5: The passbook will display the PF balance, contribution details, and transaction history
UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) is a mobile app launched by the Government of India which provides access to various government services. The app offers several services related to EPFO, and one of them is checking the PF balance. Here are the steps to check the balance through the UMANG app:
Step 1: Download and install the UMANG app from Google Play Store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.gov.umang.negd.g2c)
Step 2: Register on the app using your mobile number and select EPFO from the list of services
Step 3: Go to 'Employee Centric Services' and select 'View Passbook'
Step 4: Enter your UAN and OTP received on the registered mobile number
Step 5: After successful authentication, you can view the PF balance and transaction details
EPFO provides an SMS service to its members to obtain their balance and other details. The service can be availed by sending an SMS to 7738299899 in the following format:
Here, UAN is the Universal Account Number, and is the preferred language (English, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Bengali).
EPFO has also introduced a missed call service to obtain the PF balance and other details. This service can be availed by giving a missed call to 011-22901406 from the registered mobile number. The call will get disconnected automatically after a few rings, and the member will receive an SMS with the PF balance and other details.
In conclusion, these are the 4 simple online methods for checking the balance. By using any of these methods, employees can easily access their PF account details from home or on-the-go. It is important to note that while EPF is a safe and secure investment option, it comes with its own set of limitations such as lower returns as compared to other investment options like mutual funds and equities. Therefore, investors should carefully evaluate their investment goals and financial needs before investing in the Indian financial market.
Employees can now easily check their PF balance from the comfort of their homes by using any of the four simple online methods. These include the EPFO portal, UMANG app, SMS service, and Missed Call Service. EPF is a safe and secure investment option, but investors must evaluate their investment goals and financial needs before investing in the Indian financial market.
