Bhubaneswar, May 27 -- The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is planning to expand its auto-settlement facility to include final provident fund withdrawal claims, aiming to speed up fund transfers directly to subscribers' bank accounts.

The move was confirmed by Central Provident Fund Commissioner Ramesh Krishnamurthi in an interview with PTI.

At present, the EPFO's auto-settlement system is limited to partial or advance withdrawal claims of up to Rs 5 lakh. Under the current mechanism, eligible claims are processed within three days from the date of filing. The retirement fund body has more than seven crore members across the country.

Krishnamurthi said the EPFO now intends to extend the auto-settlement feature to final wi...