The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), responsible for managing retirement-related schemes for salaried employees, has introduced a new digital process that enables members to generate and activate their Universal Account Number (UAN) independently, using Face Authentication Technology (FAT). Previously, obtaining a UAN required employees to be present in person, and even after that, they had to activate the number separately, which caused confusion, mistakes, and long delays. With the introduction of the new system on April 8, 2025, employees can generate and activate their UAN through the UMANG app by verifying their identities through face authentication, eliminating employer involvement at the first stage. Why was this change needed?EPFO flagged various problems with the earlier system, since it relied on employers and manual data entry. Multiple errors were observed in the personal details of the employees. The errors were in their names, mobile numbers, or there were Aadhaar mismatches, creating problems for the employees. In several cases, incorrect member IDs were linked to UANs, which made PF accounts inaccessible. The earlier system led to low activation rates.
