The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) witnessed a 200 per cent growth in the use of facial authentication technology (FAT) for submitting digital life certificates in FY2023-24, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said on Saturday, emphasising how the adoption of new technologies is providing “ease of living” to employees’ pension scheme (EPS) subscribers.

Since its launch in July 2022, the number of EPS pensioners using FAT rose to 6.6 lakh in FY2023-24, with the fastest growth recorded in the last fiscal, from 2.1 lakh pensioners in 2022-23 to 6.6 lakh in FY2023-24, the ministry said in a press release.

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EPFO currently has over 78 lakh pensioners who must submit life certificates annually to continue receiving pensions. Earlier, they had to go to the banks, post office or other service centres to submit the certificate.

In 2015, the pension body introduced digital life certificates (DLCs) to enhance pensioners’ convenience. However, the process still required a physical visit to a bank branch, post office, common service centres, or an EPFO office to submit DLCs, as the fingerprint/iris capture devices were only available in these places. This cumbersome process has been streamlined by adopting facial authentication technology (FAT).

What Is Facial Authentication Technology?

The FAT technology, developed by the Ministry of Technology and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), can be used via any Android-based smartphone to submit life certificates from the comfort of home. This method allows a pensioner to be identified through a facial scan using the smartphone camera and UIDAI’s face recognition app.

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However, the process requires two applications: the Aadhaar face recognition app and the Jeevan Pramaan app on smartphones. The operator must authenticate these applications via THE Aadhaar-linked mobile numbers. These apps provide detailed guidelines to ensure a successful face scan. Once the scan is completed, the DLC submission is confirmed on the mobile phone, along with the pension payment order (PPO) number AND THE Jeevan Pramaan ID.

Recent EPFO Announcements

According to data released by the labour ministry on May 20, 2024, EPFO added 14.41 lakh members in March 2024. The data highlights that 11.80 lakh members exited and rejoined EPFO, while around 7.47 lakh new members enrolled in EPFO in the month.

EPFO has recently introduced several new rules for the convenience of its members. It has relaxed the EPF settlement rules, allowing nominees to make death claims if the subscriber hasn’t linked the account with Aadhaar. In another circular last month, it extended the auto claim solution to claims related to children’s higher education, the marriage of self, children, and siblings, and house purchase and construction. Retirement fund body has settled 4.45 crore claims during 2023-24, with 2.84 crore of these being advance claims (for withdrawal of funds).