The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Regional Office, Kochi, has registered an impressive performance in claim settlement following the rollout of the Centralized IT Enabled System (CITES). Out of 24,541 Form-31 (Advance) claims received, 81.9% were auto-settled and 6.2% were settled manually, taking the overall approval rate to 88.1%. Similarly, of the 4,287 Form-19 (Final PF Settlement) claims received, 69.6% were auto-settled and 20.9% were settled manually, resulting in an overall approval rate of 90.5%, thereby enabling near same-day settlement of the majority of eligible claims.

Nationally, EPFO has achieved 84% auto-settlement in Form-31 and 50% in Form-19. Kochi's 69.6% auto-settlement rate in Form-19, significantly higher than the national average, reflects the benefits of maintaining a clean KYC, with the Universal Account Number (UAN) authenticated and linked to Aadhaar, PAN and a mobile number.

Shri Uttam Prakash, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner-I, urged members to update their KYC details to fully leverage the benefits of EPFO 3.0, which has simplified claim processing, streamlined advance withdrawals into just three categories—Essentials, Housing and Special Needs—and enables eligible members with one year of contributory service to withdraw up to 75% of their eligible PF balance, subject to the provisions of the Scheme. He further informed that pension disbursement has also been migrated to the new centralized software platform, ensuring faster, more efficient and seamless pension services across the country.

He also encouraged eligible employers and employees to avail the benefits under the Employees' Enrolment Campaign (EEC), 2026 and the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PMVBRY). Referring to the rollout of CITES, he stated that while a few transitional issues were experienced initially, these are being progressively resolved. To further strengthen implementation, a three-day capacity-building programme for officials at all levels is currently underway, being led by Shri Andrew Prabhu, Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner (National Data Centre), New Delhi.

EPFO Regional Office, Kochi presently serves over 7.45 lakh contributing members and 1.15 lakh pensioners, reaffirming its commitment to delivering faster, transparent and technology-driven social security services.

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