EPFO update: Employees can now generate UAN through face authentication

The UAN activation on EPFO portal is simultaneously completed during generation process, and the UAN generation can directly be done by employees themselves.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced ‘enhanced’ digital services for the allotment and activation of Universal Account Number (UAN) using face authentication, a statement by the Ministry of Labour and Employment said on April 8.

This marks a significant step towards contactless, secure, and fully-digital service delivery for millions of its members, the Ministry’s statement said.

At present, UANs are generated by employers by submitting data of employee to the EPFO. “Though this data is validated using Aadhaar data, many errors were made in other fields such as father’s name or mobile number etc.” These errors meant that several employees had to update their data while submitting claims or for other benefits.

Additionally, UAN activation through Aadhaar-OTP validation on EPFO member portal was a separate process, to be completed by the member, causing confusion. In 2024-25, as many as 12.7 million UANs were allotted by EPFO. However, only 4.5 million UANs (35.3%) were activated by the members, Labour Ministry said.

Under the new process, employees can directly generate UAN using Aadhaar Face Authentication Technology (FAT) through the UMANG mobile app. Any employer can also use the same app to generate UAN, using Aadhaar FAT for any new employees, the release said.

According to the Labour Ministry, the new process ensures 100% validation of Aadhaar and user using face authentication. The UAN activation on EPFO portal is simultaneously completed during generation process, and the UAN generation can directly be done by employees themselves.

At the time of employment, employee can hand copy of e-UAN card PDF and UAN to employers for onboarding with the EPFO. Also, access to EPFO services such as passbook viewing, KYC updates, claim submission, and more are immediately unlocked, says the Ministry.

The release said that members who already have a UAN but have not yet activated the services can now easily activate their UAN through the UMANG app.

“Biometric authentication using Face Authentication provides a higher level of security compared to traditional methods such as demographic or OTP-based authentication. It ensures accurate and tamper-proof identity verification at the very entry point into the EPFO system,” the release said.

“This secure verification will also pave the way for a wide range of self-service options for members, eliminating the need for employer or regional office intervention in many future services,” Labour Ministry added.