EPFO simplifies UAN process for employees; check new new Aadhaar FAT-based process

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), operating under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has taken a significant stride in digital innovation by enabling the creation and activation of Universal Account Numbers (UAN) through Aadhaar-based Face Authentication Technology (FAT). 

This advanced feature, accessible via the UMANG mobile application, offers a completely contactless and secure way for millions of EPFO members to access their accounts. The initiative is designed to simplify processes and deliver a seamless, fully digital experience.

Simplifying the UAN Process for Employees

Until now, UANs were largely generated by employers using employee data submitted to EPFO. While Aadhaar details were validated, inaccuracies in fields such as father’s name, mobile number, or date of birth were common. These errors often required corrections during claim processing or while accessing other EPFO services.

In many cases, the UAN was not even communicated to the employee, and mobile numbers were missing or incorrect, making direct communication difficult. Furthermore, UAN activation through Aadhaar OTP validation on EPFO Member portal was a separate process to be completed by the member causing confusion.

In the financial year 2024-25 alone, out of 1.26 crore UANs allotted, only 44.68 lakh (35.30%) were activated by members. Several reminders were given to employers to get employees to activate their UAN using Aadhaar OTP so that in future any benefit under the Employment Linked Scheme could be potentially provided using DBT.

New Aadhaar FAT-Based Process: Direct and Secure

To address these persistent challenges, EPFO has now enabled direct UAN generation and activation using Face Authentication via the UMANG App.

This service can be used by both employees and employers and offers several key benefits:

100% validation of Aadhaar and user using Face Authentication.

All data of user is pre-populated directly from Aadhaar database.

Mobile number of user is matched with mobile registered with Aadhaar.

UAN activation on EPFO portal simultaneously completed during generation process.

UAN generation directly done by Employee himself/herself and e-UAN card PDF can be downloaded by Employee removing any dependency with Employer.

At the time of employment, Employee can hand copy of e-UAN card PDF and UAN to Employer for onboarding with EPFO.

Access to EPFO services such as passbook viewing, KYC updates, claim submission, and more are immediately unlocked.