EPFO new rule: Deposit Linked Insurance benefits hiked to ₹7 lakh. Details here

The EDLI scheme is mandatorily provided to all subscribers of the Employees’ Provident Fund scheme to contribute towards life insurance. EDLI provides for a lump sum payment to the insured’s nominated beneficiary in the event of death due to natural causes, illness or accident.

The objective of EDLI was to put in place a mechanism to provide employees families with income security after the death of the member. It was funded through contributions by the employer and central government with no contribution by the employee.

This scheme works in combination with EPF and EPS. A subscriber will not be required to work 12 continuous months in a company before becoming eligible for the benefit.

The six crore subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO will receive interest for 2019-20 on their EPF or employee provident fund accounts in two instalments. the EPFO board said on Wednesday.

The EPFO board had earlier in March decided to provide 8.5% interest rate for 2019-20. The EPFO decided to credit 8.15% interest for 2019-20 into the subscribers account first and then credit the remaining 0.35% rate of interest by December this year.

During the 5-month period, from April to August, EPFO has settled 94.41 lakh claims, disbursing about ₹35,445 crore to its members. To help its members tide over the liquidity needs during the coronavirus crisis, EPFO fast tracked settling of COVID19 advances and illness related claims.

"While there was an increase in the number of advance claims, there was a significant decline of about 35% in the number of final PF settlement claims from April-August 2020 period as compared with April-August 2019. Final PF Settlement claim allows members to withdraw their PF balance after quitting their job, superannuation, termination or at the time of retirement," EPFO said in a statement.