EPF withdrawals via ATM, UPI likely by March 2026: Labour Minister

Employees covered under the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) may soon be able to withdraw up to 75 per cent of their savings through ATMs and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as the government looks to simplify and speed up access to provident fund money.

Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) plans to roll out the new withdrawal features before March 2026. Speaking in an interview with ABP News, Mandaviya said subscribers would be able to access their EPF balances directly through ATMs, while EPF withdrawals would also be linked to UPI.

“You can still withdraw your 75% EPF immediately,” Mandaviya said in the interview. “Before March 2026, the Ministry is introducing a feature where a subscriber can withdraw their EPF through an ATM. The Ministry will also link EPF withdrawals with UPI.”

Mandaviya said the move is aimed at reducing paperwork and delays in the current system, which requires subscribers to submit multiple forms for withdrawals. While the money belongs to the subscriber, he said, procedural complexity often discourages or delays access, prompting the Ministry to simplify the process.

The proposed changes build on a series of reforms approved by the EPFO in October 2025 to make provident fund operations faster, simpler and more transparent. At the time, the Labour Ministry said the existing withdrawal framework had become cluttered, with multiple categories, varying eligibility conditions and different minimum service requirements, often leading to confusion and rejected claims.

To address this, the EPFO merged as many as 13 withdrawal categories into a simplified structure. One of the most significant changes was expanding the withdrawable amount to include the employer’s contribution, in addition to the employee’s own contribution and interest. Earlier, withdrawals were largely limited to the employee’s contribution, with caps ranging from 50 per cent to 100 per cent depending on the reason.

Under the revised rules, EPF members can now withdraw up to 75 per cent of their total corpus, a substantially higher amount than was previously allowed. The eligibility period has also been standardised to 12 months of service for all types of withdrawals, replacing earlier rules that required service periods of up to seven years for certain claims.

In cases of unemployment, EPF members are currently allowed to withdraw 75 per cent of their balance immediately, including employee and employer contributions and interest. The remaining 25 per cent can be withdrawn after one year. Full withdrawal of the entire balance is permitted in specific circumstances such as retirement after the age of 55, permanent disability, retrenchment, voluntary retirement or permanent relocation outside India.

If implemented as planned, the introduction of ATM- and UPI-based withdrawals would mark a major shift in how India’s largest social security scheme delivers liquidity to workers, bringing EPF access closer to real-time banking services.