How to Check Your EPF Balance Online: Check its Steps & Benefits

The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is a retirement saving policy initiated by the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. This is a beneficial scheme available to the salaried workforce in India. Here, the employer, as well as the employee, contribute 12% of the basic salary and dearness allowance of the employee towards the EPF fund. The employee can avail of the lump sum EPF amount on retirement, including the accrued interest on the fund.

In this post, we discuss the EPFO login process and how to check EPF balance via different methods.

Overview of EPF Balance Check Methods

Several methods can be used to check the balance of the EPF India account. Let’s have a quick overview of the different methods for EPF balance check:

• Online method
• SMS
• Missed call
• Mobile App (UMANG)

The online process is the simplest and easiest way to check your EPF balance. Let us take a look at the process in detail below:

Step-by-Step Guide to Check EPF Balance Online

To check the EPF balance online, one must activate the UAN or Universal Account Number, which is a unique number that every employee enrolled for the EPF scheme contains. Without the UAN, you may not be able to assess the services of your PF account, like checking your EPF balance and EPF withdrawal online. Once you activate the UAN, you can proceed with the PF online checking by following the steps below:

Step 1: Go to the official EPF portal (https://www.epfindia.gov.in/site_en/index.php)

Step 2: On the homepage, go to the ‘Our Services’ option and click on the ‘For Employees’ tab in the drop-down menu

Step 3: Now, under the ‘Services’ section, click on the ‘Member Passbook’ option

Step 4: On the screen that appears, enter your UAN, Password, and captcha code to log in to the portal

Step 5: If you don’t have access to the UAN password you may follow the procedure mentioned below to recover the password. If you already have your UAN password, go to the next step.

Step 6: In the next step, select the ‘Member ID’ and click on ‘View Password’

Step 7: On the page that appears, you can see your EPF details on the screen

Step 8: Download the document by clicking on the ‘Download Passbook’ option

Tips for Password Recovery if you Forget your UAN Password

• In case you forget your UAN Password, you can visit the EPFO portal/member e-sewa portal and click on the ‘Forgot Password’ option.
• Enter your UAN along with other required details and the captcha code on the page that appears. To submit the details, click on the “Enter” button.
• Next, submit your name, DOB, gender, etc.
• Verify yourself in the next step and provide details of your Aadhaar along with the captcha code.
• After verifying your Aadhaar, you will receive an OTP on your mobile number. Submit the OTP.
• You will be asked to change your password on the next page. Set a new password for future use.

Alternative Methods for EPF Balance Check

Through UMANG App

You can use the Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG) app to check your EPF balance on your smartphone/laptop. For this, you have to download the app first. Along with the EPF balance check, you can also file and track EPF claim status through this app. To access the app, EPF members can go through a one-time registration process using their mobile phones to register their UAN to use the UMANG app without any hassle.

Here are the steps to check your PF balance through the UMANG app:

• From the Google Play Store, download the UMANG app
• Under the ‘All Services’ tab, choose the “EPFO” option
• Go to the ‘Employee Centric Service’, and click on ‘View Passbook’

Through SMS

If your UAN and KYC details are integrated, you can check your EPF balance through SMS. Just send an SMS to 7738299899 in the format ‘EPFOHO UAN ENG’ to receive the details back.

The SMS service is available in different languages like English (ENG), Hindi (HIN), Bengali (BEN), Punjabi (PUN), Marathi (MAR), Gujarati (GUJ), Telugu (TEL), Kannada (KAN), Malayalam (MAL) and Tamil (TAM).

Through Missed Calls

You can also check the balance of your PF amount through a missed call if your UAN is integrated with your KYC details. The employee can give a missed call to 9966044425 from their registered mobile number. Once you give a missed call, you will receive an SMS with the required PF details on your mobile.

Benefits of Checking EPF Balance Online

The method of checking EPF balance online is utterly simple and hassle-free. Moreover, there are many advantages to checking your PF balance online.

1. Stay Abreast with Real-Time Updates:

The online mode of checking EPF balance allows employees to stay up-to-date with real-time updates. The employee can act accordingly if the government notifies something important for the EPF employees.

 2. Easy and Convenient:

The online mode is the most convenient and easy option to check your PF balance from the convenience of your home. All you need is an active UAN and a smartphone/laptop with an internet connection.

3. Comfort of use:

The best part about online balance checking of your PF account is that you don’t have to leave your comfort zone. As you can get the balance check done from the comfort of your home/office, you can spare the hassle of checking your EPF balance in any other way.

Prerequisites for Online EPF Balance Check

• The first important prerequisite of an online EPF balance check is that important documents like PAN card, Aadhaar card, and bank account should be linked to your registered mobile number
• Knowing your Universal Account Number (UAN) is also important to make it convenient to access your EPF balance and withdraw funds when faced with an emergency
• Only after six hours of registration on the EPFO Portal, the employee can use the facility to view the EPF passbook

Common Issues and Troubleshooting

Here are some common issues faced at the time of checking EPF balance online: 

1. Issue: Despite having a valid UAN, sometimes you cannot log into the EPF portal as it shows ‘Invalid Login User’.

Solution: If you see the error message – ‘Invalid Login User’ – it might be due to an issue with the credentials. If there is a slight mistake in your credentials used to log in to the EPF portal, like entering the wrong UAN, password, etc., you may not access the portal. So, make sure to double-check the UAN number and password for any mistakes.

2. Issue: I forgot my EPF Password; how do I retrieve it?

Solution: If you forget your password, you can reset it by using the ‘Forgot Password’ option. Below are the steps to follow to reset your EPF password:

• Visit the EPFO portal/member e-sewa portal and click on the ‘Forgot Password’ option.
• Enter details like UAN and other fields that appear and click on the submit button
• Next, enter details like name, DOB, gender, etc.
• Verify yourself and provide details of your Aadhaar along with the captcha code
• After verifying your Aadhaar, you will receive an OTP on your mobile number. Submit the OTP.
• You will be asked to change your password next. Set a new password for future reference

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Conclusion
EPF is a vital source of income for employees after retirement. Hence, it is important to stay updated with the knowledge of your UAN and other details for the convenience of EPF balance access as well as to withdraw funds during an emergency.

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