The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the world's largest social security organization, is under considerable strain due to the dated state of its IT infrastructure. Boasting over 277 million accounts and a fund corpus exceeding Rs20 lakh crore, EPFO is experiencing immense pressure. Recent setbacks involving a reversion to manual annual account updates have been a major concern, with employees facing responsibility for any claim settlement delays beyond the mandated 20-day window.

 

The source of these issues is the organization's antiquated IT system, which is perceived as outdated and inefficient by its workforce. The Employees’ Provident Fund Officers’ Association (EPFOA) voiced its concerns in a letter to the government, highlighting that while the claims rejection ratio is a crucial performance metric, it cannot be improved without software intervention.

 

This is because the current EPFO software operates on the "garbage in, garbage out" (GIGO) principle.

 

In simpler terms, flawed input leads to faulty output. According to the letter, the EPFO's application software is dated back to 2008 and relies on software like Windows Vista from that era, with much newer versions available today. The EPFOA noted that in 2019, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) presented a comprehensive proposal for system revamp, which was procured at a cost. However, there have been no developments on that front.

 

This isn't a recent problem; EPFO has been wrestling with software infrastructure challenges for several years. These challenges have grown more pronounced in the past two to three years, yet responses from the labor ministry and the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) are yet to materialize in resolving this situation.

 

This IT dilemma within EPFO is posing substantial challenges, given its role as a cornerstone of social security in India. Addressing these issues is critical to ensure efficient operations for the vast number of employees and beneficiaries under its purview.