Aadhar number made mandatory for new PF accounts

Widening the reach of its unique identity or 'Aadhar' system, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) today mandated that all new salaried employees must submit Aadhar numbers before their companies can open a PF account for them.

An order issued by the new central provident fund commissioner Anil Swaroop has made it compulsory for all new members opening a PF account to provide Aadhaar details as their proof of identity.

The PF department circular says that a deadline for other existing members to provide their UID details would also be issued soon.

"UID linkage would ensure that money meant for workers actually reaches the worker, even if he is a casual worker who has worked in a place only for a few days," Swaroop said.

In a circular in November last year, the EPFO had complained that the organisation has been accepting bulk PF deductions of workers from companies - that is, payments of workers were bundled together and hence not specifically linked to a particular worker. These funds were decided arbitrarily on the basis of negotiations between the EPFO officials and employers.

The new order had condemned this practice and had asked for making payments against specific individual accounts only.