Employees can now generate universal provident fund account number through face authentication

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 mediapersons, Mandaviya said 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 employee 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.