E-Challan and Receipt (ECR) facility launched by Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)

Union minister of labour and employment Mallikarjun Kharge inaugurated the E-Challan and Receipt (ECR) facility on 1 May 2012 to bring transparency and accessibility for employers in depositing monthly Employees’ Provident Fund or EPF contributions of their workers.

Employers under the ECR service would have to register their organisations online and generate challans for making monthly deposits. They can use these challan for either electronically or physically depositing the Provident Fund or PF contributions to the bank. After the bank confirms the deposit, the concerned regional office’s system would be automatically notified and individual members’ accounts would get updated.

The claim settlement process would become much easier as under the new initiative, employee details will be added and updated electronically. Also the need of annual accounts preparation at the end of the year can be done away with under this system.