Most of the young working people in India have a lesser habit of saving and tend to spend most of their earned monthly salary on a regular basis. A famous saying states that All days are not the same, save for a rainy day. Hence the habit of saving plays a crucial role in helping individuals to set apart a specific sum of money for their future retirement days.

Provident Fund which is one of the forms of pension fund provides which employees with a lump sum payment of money at the time of retirement from their services.

Let's take a sneak peek into how an individual can check the balance in the provident fund through various ways.

What is the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)?

The Employees Provident Fund which is a main scheme under the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act of 1952 mainly covers those firms and entities which have more than 20 employees. As per the EPF scheme, both the employer and the employee has to make equal contributions towards the scheme on a monthly basis and at the time of retirement, the employee will get the accumulated amount along with interest.

What are the eligibility criteria for an employee for the EPF Scheme?

An employee whose monthly income is equal to or less than Rs 15,000 at the time of joining is eligible for the EPF scheme. Those whose monthly income is more than Rs 15,000 can become a member after securing permission from the Assistant PF Commissioner (if both the employer and employee agree).

How much can an employer and employee contribute towards EPF Scheme?

As per the standard rules of Employee Provident Fund Scheme, both the employer and employee can make contributions up to 12% of basic wages, dearness allowance and retaining allowance (12% of basic wages + dearness allowance + retaining allowance).

If an employee wishes to contribute more towards the EPF Scheme, they can do so above the present rate of 12 percent of basic pay and it is known as Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF) which is eligible for tax-free interest while computing Income Tax. In this case, the employer need not have to match up to the employee's voluntary contribution towards employee provident fund (EPF).

How To check the balance of the EPF account?

The advent of technology has helped individuals to check for the EPF balance details in the nick of the time without undergoing any hassles. An individual can check the balance in any of the following four ways

1. EPFO Portal
2. Sending an SMS
3. Missed Call
4. UMANG App

1. EPFO Portal

The official web portal of Employees Provident Fund (www.epfindia.gov.in) helps the individuals to check the balance amount in their respective EPF account. Individuals have to go to the EPF portal and click on the "Our Services" Section and then choose "For Employees". Proceed further and select "Member Passbook" option this will take to a new web page. In this page, one has to enter their respective user name in the form of Universal Account Number (UAN)and password to view the passbook which shows the individuals, as well as employer's contribution and the interest amount accumulated there off, will be shown.

2. Sending an SMS

One can even opt to know their EPF balance by sending an SMS to the mobile number
"7738299899". One has to send a message as "EPFOHO UAN ENG", wherein ENG stands for English.

If an individual wants to opt for a service in their regional language apart from English, then they can do so by choosing any of the following below mentioned languages which includes Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Bengali.

3. Missed Call

One can also get to know their EPF balance via a missed call to the authorized phone number from their registered mobile number. To avail this service, one has to provide their mobile number in the KYC details which will be integrated into the UAN data. Post-integration of KYC details with UAN, one has to follow the below-mentioned steps to know the EPF balance amount

Step 1: Give a missed call to "011-22901406" from the registered mobile number
Step 2: After giving a missed call, the individual will receive an SMS which provides the required EPF details.

4. UMANG App

One can also check their EPF balance via UMANG App. For this one has to download the m-seva app of EPFO from the Google PlayStore in their respective mobile phones.

Step 1: After downloading the app, click on "Member" option and then go the "Balance/Passbook" option

Step 2: Here one has to enter the UAN and registered mobile number details

After the verification of the mobile number against the UAN, one can view the EPF balance details.