Paperless EPFO to apply for carbon credits

New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may soon turn into a pathbreaker of sorts. The pension fund manager is planning to claim carbon credits after initiatives like electronic transfer of funds and accounts have resulted in hefty savings on paper.

The move comes after the EPFO’s Delhi (North) office reported savings of over Rs 17 lakh in an eight month period after switching to the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) system for refunds and withdrawals. The regional office dealt with 1,13,801 between May 2010 and January 2011.

It saved Rs 15.39 in every case where e-payment was made as it did not have to spend on items like cheques, paper, envelopes, gum and postage. Though it did shell out Rs 6.12 for every electronic settlement case for NEFT charges and SMS alerts, the North Delhi office saved a total of Rs 17,51,121 during the period.

The EPFO has now asked all regional offices to calculate their cost savings from electronic settlement of cases. “This would enable us to compile the total savings made by our Organisation in saving of paper, postage, etc as a result of introduction of NEFT and the e-challan system, which is gradually being introduced in all the offices. This would enable us to apply for carbon credit for the Organisation,” Central PF Office has written in a recent missive. Based on the calculations by its regional offices, the EPFO plans to formulate a proposal for claiming carbon credits from such eco- friendly measures.

“We will then approach the ministry of environment and forests with our proposal,” an official said. In all, the EPFO has 120 regional and sub regional offices which together settled over 46 lakh claims in 2009-10. The EPFO is hopeful that switching over the NEFT would generate into annual savings of crores of rupees.

The only hitch is its plan to provide an annual account statement to its subscribers that would provide information on a month-wise basis. The initiative, which is expected to start from 2012-13 is expected to result in additional usage of paper. While at present, the EPFO uses one sheet of paper to print account statements of five subscribers, with a monthly breakup of accounts, every member’s statement will require a separate sheet of paper.

Source: Financial Express