Bengaluru-based Bhavesh Chandra Jha (36) was never supposed to be part of the employee pension scheme (EPS). His employer mistakenly enrolled him. More than a year later, when Jha applied to withdraw his savings, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) rejected his claim. Before it could be processed, his pension contributions first had to be shifted back into the provident fund (EPF), a step that required coordination between his employer and the EPFO.
His case highlights a bigger problem: workers wrongly enrolled in EPS often face long delays in accessing their money. Since corrections are processed only after the close of a financial year, employees can be left waiting 12-18 months to touch their savings.
Frustrated, Jha turned to Kustodian.life, a tech firm that helps resolve claims across EPF, banking, wills and trusts. But even here, the fix came only in part. His EPS contributions till March 2024 were eventually moved into EPF; his April 2024 contribution was left out.
“Chandra (Jha) worked with the employer for 11 months, his last month being April 2024. While service till March was corrected after four months of follow-ups, April was left out,” said Kunal Kabra, founder and chief executive of Kustodian.life.
He was told to approach EPFO again after 11-12 months. “EPFO settled it only for FY24. For April 2024—just 20 days falling in FY25—they said corrections can be done only once annual accounts for FY25 open in October-November 2025,” added Kabra.
This means a much longer wait before Jha can access his EPF.
“If anyone has incorrect EPS entries for April 2025, it can only be visited for correction by October-November 2026,” said Kabra.
Here’s how it works: An amount equivalent to an employee’s 12% basic salary goes into EPF as the employee contribution. The employer matches the contribution. But only 3.67% of the employer’s share goes to EPF; the rest 8.33% is diverted to EPS. Rules changed on 1 September 2014—anyone joining after that date with a basic salary above ₹15,000 has the entire employer contribution (12%) going into EPF. Such employees cannot be an EPS member. If you have already been an EPS member before this date and your basic salary goes above ₹15,000 afterwards, you will still be an EPS member.
Put simply, once an EPS member, always an EPS member while you are working on payrolls.
That’s exactly where Jha’s case went wrong.
“EPS eligibility checks and careful filling of Form 11 at onboarding could have avoided this altogether,” Kabra said. Form 11 is a self-declaration form that new employees must submit to their employer upon joining a new employer. They must declare in it if they have been an EPF and EPS member in the past or not.
Questions sent to EPFO remained unanswered at the time of publishing the story.
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Why EPFO says no one-time settlement
The EPFO argues that EPS corrections require adjusting interest payments since EPS earns no interest while EPF does. When funds move from EPS to EPF, interest must be credited; if the transfer is reversed, interest has to be deducted.
“EPFO says EPS correction is possible only after interest credit for the financial year has been processed. But that’s inconsistent—PF transfers happen mid-year with proper interest settlement,” said Ketan Das, PF business head, Finright.
Das adds the delay creates a cascading problem. “We see cases where members need withdrawals for home purchase or loan repayment, but requests get rejected due to wrong EPS contributions. EPFO insists corrections can only happen after a year. Members need money now, but must wait. The procedure should be altered in favour of the members,” he said.
Backlog of cases adds to the trouble. “The bigger the backlog is at a PF office, the longer the rectification will take. We will have to keep following up with the concerned PF office and do paperwork all over again in Jha’s case once the settlement starts for this financial year,” said Kabra.
Mint take: 1 September 2014 is a crucial cut-off in EPS history. All members should check if they were meant to be part of EPS. In some cases, members are eligible for EPS but employers fail to contribute—this too needs rectification. Review your PF account closely and seek corrections if contributions are wrong. Just be prepared: the process is slow, often stretching beyond a year.
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