The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) subscribers have been facing issues in assessing their passbook details in the last few days as the passbook facility is temporarily down even on the UMANG mobile app, according to the publication Money Control.
At the time of accessing their passbook, subscribers claimed they received an error message saying (‘EPFO services are not available on account of Technical Maintenance-related issues. Inconvenience is regretted.’)
The report quoted a user as saying, “I have been trying to access it through the UMANG app for the past two odd days but I have not been able to access it. Hopefully the EPFO passbook facility is restored soon.”
However, the notice on the EPFO website stated that the e-passbook facility will resume post 5 pm, according to the report. The website apparently seems to be down as clicking the e-passbook icon on the website says the page cannot be reached.
EPFO passbook is mainly used for tracking EPF account balance month on month. It also shows you the employer’s share of monthly contribution including the employee’s share as well. It is considered one of the most used facilities by many EPF subscribers to track their account balances.
The report quoted Saraswathi Kasturirangan, Partner, Deloitte India claiming that many subscribers wanted to access their EPF passbooks to check the delay in interest being credited into their accounts. “Some clients have raised concerns that they have not been able to see the interest for the year 2021-22 credited to their account. That is the reason, many employees have been checking their passbooks regularly,” Kasturirangan told the publication.
In October, the Ministry of Finance clarified the concerns about delay in interest credit. “The interest is being credited in the accounts of all EPF subscribers. However, that is not visible in the statements in view of a software upgrade being implemented by EPFO to account for the change in tax incidence. For all outgoing subscribers seeking settlement and for subscribers seeking withdrawal, the payments are being done inclusive of the interest,” it said on Twitter in October 2022 .
Preeti Chandrashekhar, India Business Leader, Health and Wealth, Mercer India told the publication that people are not so used to such technical glitches for longer periods in this day and age. "When the downtime impacts our ability to do transactions, it bothers us. Here in EPFO also, if it is just looking at passbooks it is not a grave issue but if users are trying transfers etc it is an irritant” she added.