NEW DELHI : Need some extra cash during the 21-day coronavirus lockdown? To help the salaried class tide over the economic crisis during the shutdown, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has now made the highly-contagious pandemic another reason to allow subscribers withdraw funds.

The labour ministry issued a notification yesterday amending the EPF withdrawal rules in which all its 6 crore subscribers are allowed a non-refundable advance during the coronavirus pandemic. The withdrawal amount cannot be more than your basic salary and dearness allowance (DA) for three months or upto 75% of your PF account balance, whichever is lower.

"Please note that the COVID-19 has been declared a Pandemic by appropriate Government for the entire country and therefore the employees working in establishments and factories across entire India, who are members of the EPF Scheme, 1952, are eligible for the benefits of non-refundable advance under the sub-para (3) of Para 68L which has come into force from today (28.03.2020)," the EPFO said in a circular issued yesterday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had made the announcement few days ago.

The new EPF withdrawal rules came into effect yesterday and the EPFO has started accepting such claims online.

The EPFO allows subscribers to withdraw funds only under specific circumstances like during buying or construction of a house, illness, marriage, higher education, national calamity, job loss, etc. The outbreak of pandemic is now listed as the 11th reason that one can avail to withdraw funds from the EPF account.

To make a withdrawal, you need to go to the EPFO’s unified portal and log in using your UAN and password. Then go to ‘Online Services’ and ‘Claim’ section where you will need to verify your bank account number and upload a scanned copy of cheque or passbook. You would be asked to submit a reason for using the advance withdrawal facility. Select “Outbreak of pandemic" and generate an Aadhaar-based OTP. Once your claim is processed, the amount will be credited directly to the bank account.

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