EPFO starts crediting interest: Here's how to check your PF balance

The ‘Diwali gift’—interest credit—expected from the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may not have made its way to  employees' provident fund (EPF) accounts before the festivities kicked off, but is being delivered, even if a week late.

Employees started seeing their PF passbook being updated with interest credit for financial year 2021-22 this week. The EPFO had in March declared an interest rate of 8.1 percent, the lowest in four decades, for the last financial year.

Also read: Will the employees’ provident fund bring cheer this Diwali season? 

Interest declared by EPFO in March
In March every year, the EPFO’s central board of trustees, under the labour ministry, meets to declare the rate of interest for the financial year.

The rate is then ratified by the finance ministry, which happened in June this year. Finally, the labour ministry and the EPFO proceed to credit the interest into employees’ accounts.

Also read: Does EPF rate cut make voluntary provident fund unattractive?

Although interest is being credited to the PF accounts with a delay this time, the finance ministry had on October 5 clarified that there is no loss of interest for any subscriber. It said that the interest is not visible in the EPF passbooks due to a pending software upgrade. The ministry had responded to a Moneycontrol story that spoke about the possibility of a loss of interest on account of the delay in interest credit.

Check your PF balance
You can access your PF passbook online, through the EPFO member portal. Besides current balance, the statement will also reflect the interest credit for financial year 2021-22.

To log in to the portal, you need to use your UAN (universal account number allotted to your account) and password. If you haven’t registered or activated your UAN on the portal, you will first need to do so.

Your UAN is mentioned on your salary slips, besides the monthly contribution deposit SMS that EPFO sends to your registered mobile number.

You can also check your PF balance by sending a text message ‘EPFOHO (your) UAN’ to 7738299899 from your registered mobile number. However, the return message will not display details of interest credit.

You can also give a missed call on 011-22901406 or 9966044425 to know your balance. Again, interest paid for the last financial year will not be displayed in the message sent in response.