The Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has notified an order to make the Universal Account Number (UAN) mandatory for all employers covered under the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1952.
The UAN remains portable throughout the lifetime of an employee and he or she does not have to apply for provident fund transfer claims while changing jobs.
It is even more beneficial for workers in the construction sector, who often change their contractor after short spans of time, finish contracts and take up new jobs.
The EPFO had issued over four crore UANs to employers across the country in July last year.
These UANs were then provided to workers and the process of seeding these accounts with KYC details like PAN, Bank Account and Aadhaar started.
More than 56 lakh workers have activated their portable PF account numbers till now.
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All subscribers have to activate their UAN themselves by logging into the account.
The bank account details are necessary for using UAN for various claims including PF withdrawals.
However, those subscribers who have UAN but not provided bank account details can activate their UAN and access it online.
The UAN facility was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October last year.