A new digital feature introduced by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) allows employees to generate and activate their Universal Account Number (UAN) with the help of the Aadhaar-based Face Authentication Technology (FAT).
Earlier, the UAN was generated by the employers, which increased the likelihood of errors in terms of entering their personal details, such as name or mobile number. Additionally, it was a little long drawn and complicated requiring users to use their Aadhaar OTP to activate. There was also the worry of employers not sharing the UAN details with employees.
With this digital feature, the objective is to minimise errors and enhance the experience for all subscribers, making the process easy and simple. The users will be able to generate and activate their UAN themselves using face authentication. This will also eliminate the delay in activating the UAN and ensure smoother and quicker access to the services offered by EPFO. The process will be facilitated by the UMANG app.
In FY 2024-25, EPFO allotted over 1.26 crore UANs. However, only 35% were activated by members.
Both the AadhaarFaceRD app and the UMANG app can be downloaded from the Play Store.
Back in 2018, EPFO had introduced the UAN-Aadhaar linking facility for the convenience of members using EPFO Link in UMANG mobile app.
As part of the Labour Ministry’s efforts to enhance services offered to EPFO subscribers, the retirement fund entity has also made it possible for subscribers to withdraw cash from their provident fund via ATMs.