Employees can now generate EPFO UAN through face authentication

New Delhi: Employees subscribing to social security schemes of the retirement fund body EPFO can now generate universal provident fund account number (UAN) and related services through face authentication, Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday.

The minister also announced full notification of six districts of Bihar – Araria, Saharsa, Aurangabad, Banka, East Champaran and Gopalganj -- under Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), which will bring about 24,000 additional insured persons under the ambit of social security schemes of ESIC.

Talking to media persons, Mandaviya stated that Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced enhanced digital services for UAN allotment and activation using face authentication, marking a significant step towards contactless, secure, and fully digital service delivery for crores of members.

He stated that now the employees can directly generate UAN using Aadhaar Face Authentication Technology (FAT) using the Umang Mobile App.

Any Employer can also use the same Umang App to generate UAN using Aadhaar Face Authentication Technology (FAT) for any new employee.

To generate UAN, an employee will have to open the UMANG App and follow steps on UAN Allotment and Activation through Face Authentication. After Aadhaar-based verification, UAN will be generated and sent by SMS to the mobile number mentioned in the Aadhaar database.

After generating UAN, the Employee can download the UAN card from the UMANG App or Member Portal. The advantages of the new process are 100 per cent validation of Aadhaar and user using Face Authentication.

The minister further explained that the members who already have a UAN but have not yet activated, can now easily activate their UAN through the UMANG App.

Biometric authentication using Face Authentication provides a higher level of security compared to traditional methods such as demographic or OTP-based authentication.

This secure verification will also pave the way for a wide range of self-service options for members, eliminating the need for employer or Regional Office intervention in many future services.

In the coming days, EPFO will also be promoting digital life certificate through Jeevan Pramaan using the Face Authentication Technology by collaborating with youth volunteers from MY Bharat to provide services to pensioners at their doorstep, the minister added.

In the financial year 2024-25, 1.26 crore (1,26,56,127) Universal Account Numbers (UANs) were allotted by EPFO.

However, the minister stated that only 44 lakh (44,68,236) UANs (35.30 per cent) were activated by the Members during the FY 2024-25.

Several reminders were given to employers to get employees to activate their UAN using Aadhaar OTP so that in future any benefit under the Employment Linked Scheme could be potentially provided using DBT (direct benefit transfer), he added.

About the expansion of ESIC in Bihar, he stated that presently, in Bihar, out of the total 38 districts, 27 are fully notified and 11 districts are partially notified.

After the notification is issued, 33 districts will become fully notified and five districts will remain partially notified.

Presently, as on March 31, 2024 total number of IPs (insured persons) and beneficiaries in Bihar are 4.5 lakh (4,50,640) and 17.48 lakh (17,48,483), respectively.

After the notification is issued, the total number of IPs and Beneficiaries in Bihar will increase to 4,74,786 and 18,42,169 respectively.