How can EPFO be faster, higher and stronger

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In their Economic Times article, "Make EPFO faster, higher, stronger," Sanjeev Sanyal and Shrishti Chauhan compellingly argue that despite the EPFO's growing importance, it's plagued by high claim rejection rates and operational inefficiencies.

As someone who recently navigated the portal, I wholeheartedly agree. The interface is cumbersome, requiring excessive CAPTCHAs, and prone to errors. Even simple tasks like password changes take days to reflect across different sections.

While the EPFO offers services on its website, the UMANG app provides a surprisingly smoother experience. This highlights the potential of digitisation to improve service delivery.

The authors identify key areas for digital improvement, such as consolidating duplicate accounts, leveraging UAN, and enhancing digital accessibility. They also pinpoint data discrepancies, rule non-compliance, and fragmented regional databases as primary causes of high claim rejection rates.

Increased resources, advanced digitisation, better system integration, and upgrades are essential steps forward, as the article suggests. However, I believe a more scalable, potentially external solution is necessary to handle the EPFO's 300 million and growing user base.

Expanding the UMANG app's role as the primary EPFO interface could alleviate the organisation's burden of user interface management and simultaneously provide accessibility through rich vernacular language support.

While better training and documentation can help reduce rule-related claim rejections, open platforms like Quora or AI-powered search tools offer more efficient solutions. Encouraging broader participation in these platforms can create user-centric support channels.

UMANG itself could be transformed into an open platform, fostering citizen-led initiatives for training and simplified access, similar to the impact of IRCTC's evolution. The IRCTC web portal firstly provided digitization and killed the long queues, while allowing the neighbourhood cybercafe to serve as both the service provider and often the help centre.  Subsequently, opening up of IRCTC APIs to private usage has enabled integration into the many travel applications such as MakeMyTrip, ClearTrip, PayTM, Ixigo, etc.  Much of this improved experience is still built on top of the core IRCTC experience.  A similar process of opening up the EPFO integration can be a path to greater simplification and utility.

A decentralised, distributed system could effectively manage regional databases, reducing the need for centralised control.

Harmonising UAN, PAN, and Aadhaar to minimise identity requirements would enhance user experience. Incorporating EPFO account and loan details into OCEN can strengthen individuals' financial profiles.

Addressing data mismatches, a common issue across systems, requires a holistic approach that caters to India's vast population.

Digitisation has undoubtedly improved EPFO services, but significant challenges remain. To realize its full potential as a cornerstone of citizen savings and social security, the EPFO needs to accelerate its progress. Collaboration between the public and private sectors can be instrumental in achieving this goal.  Open networks that allow each participant to bring their unique capabilities can go a long way in enabling this not just for EPFO, but for many other services similarly.

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