EPFO 3.0: Retirement body ready to undergo massive revamp with new portal, AI features — Report

EPFO 3.0: The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is all set to embark on its new phase of reforms, called EPFO 3.0, shortly after the retirement body announced relaxed withdrawal norms and proposed a UPI-linked withdrawal facility, The Indian Express has reported.

In its report, quoting an official familiar with the development, the newspaper said that EPFO 3.0 will feature a new portal and a new backend software to implement the changes over the next decade.

The new EPFO 3.0 will also include AI-powered language tools to make services more accessible for members, an official told The Indian Express.

How will EPFO 3.0 look?

The revamp under EPFO 3.0 will overhaul the organisation's architecture as it shifts to a core banking solution, amid expanding scale to cater to both organised and unorganised sector workers following the implementation of the New Labour Codes.

The core banking solution is dubbed as a key feature of EPFO 3.0, enabling a centralised operation similar to that of banks, where customers can resolve their issues anywhere in the country.

IE reported that EPFO may also gain control over the administration of retirement funds of gig and platform workers.

“There will be a complete revamp under EPFO 3.0, new architecture, core banking solution at the backend. We will be able to cater in terms of scale, to all the organised and unorganised workers. It will take into account the increase in volumes. The entire system will change including the portal. As of now, incremental changes are happening, the next phase will take care of all future needs,” the official quoted by the newspaper said.

EPFO currently has around eight crore active members and maintains a corpus of over ₹28 lakh crore.

AI-powered language tool

Another new feature of EPFO 3.0 will be an AI-powered language tool, designed to help members resolve issues in their vernacular language.

“We will use more vernacular tools like Bhashini to give information in the vernacular medium,” the official told IE.

Bhashini is an AI-powered language translation platform developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

EPFO 3.0 to kick off soon

Developments under EPFO 3.0 are expected to start soon, as the retirement body is in the final stages of preparing a tender to select a company that will implement, operate, and maintain the IT platform for EPFO's revamped framework.

“The tender is broadly prepared, the financial vetting is underway. It will be floated soon,” the official said.