FM Sitharaman announces big-bang package for MSMEs to revive economy

Rs 6-trn stimulus includes Rs 3 trn of collateral-free loans; Rs 30,000-crore special liquidity scheme for NBFCs, HFCs, MFIs

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced a set of stimulus measures of nearly Rs 5.94 trillion to provide relief to various constituents of the Indian economy. They are micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs); taxpayers; non-banking financial companies (NBFCs); power distribution companies; the real estate sector; organised sector employees; and contractors working with the government.

These measures are part of the Rs 20-trillion “Atmanirbhar Bharat” package, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. The finance minister said she would make announcements pertaining to different sectors every day, starting Wednesday, as the government looks to kick-start economic activities even as the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown is expected to continue beyond May 17.

ALSO READ: Bigger reforms coming, we’ll see a V-shaped recovery: CEA Subramanian

The immediate fiscal impact of Wednesday’s announcements could be less than Rs 20,000 crore, even though analysts differ on that. The key measures were aimed at MSMEs, with a Rs 3-trillion credit guarantee fund for collateral-free automatic loans, a Rs 20,000-crore subordinate fund for stressed MSMEs, and a Rs 50,000-crore equity infusion “fund of funds”.

EPFO recruitment 2019: How to apply for 280 vacancies for post of assistant

EPFO will conduct an online exam for the posts on July 30 and July 31. The entry level pay for the posts is Rs 44,900

EPFO recruitment 2019: Employees Provident Fund Organisation has come out with a notice inviting interested and eligible candidates to apply for 280 vacancies for the post of Assistant section officer. Candidates can apply online from May 30, 2019 to June 25, 2019 through the official website https://www.epfindia.gov.in. EPFO will conduct an online exam for the posts on July 30 and July 31. The entry level pay for the posts is Rs 44,900

How to apply 

Candidates can apply online upto 25.06.2019 and no other mode of application will be accepted.

IMPORTANT POINTS TO BE NOTED BY CANDIDATES BEFORE APPLYING ONLINE

(i) Before applying online, candidates should scan their: photograph (4.5cm × 3.5cm) signature (with black ink) left thumb impression (on white paper with black or blue ink) a hand written declaration (on a white paper with black ink) ensuring that the all these scanned documents adhere to the required specifications as given in Para 4.II of this Notice.

(ii) Signature in CAPITAL LETTERS will NOT be accepted.

(iii) The left thumb impression should be properly scanned and not smudged. (If a candidate is not having left thumb, he/she may use his/ her right thumb for applying.)

(iv) The text for the hand written declaration is as follows – “I, _______ (Name of the candidate), hereby declare that all the information submitted by me in the application form is correct, true and valid. I will present the supporting documents as and when required.”

(v) The above mentioned hand written declaration has to be in the candidate’s hand writing and in English only. If it is written and uploaded by anybody else or in any other language, the application will be considered as invalid. (In the case of Visually Impaired candidates who cannot write may get the text of declaration typed and put their left hand thumb impression below the typed declaration and upload the document as per specifications.).

(vi) Keep the necessary details/documents ready to make Online Payment of the requisite application fee/ intimation charges.

(vii) Have a valid personal email ID and mobile no., which should be kept active till the completion of this Recruitment Process.

EPFO may send intimation to download call letters for the Examination etc. through the registered e-mail ID. In case a candidate does not have a valid personal e-mail ID, he/she should create his/her new e-mail ID and mobile no. before applying on-line and must maintain that email account and mobile number.

PF-Aadhaar seeding portal hacked, EPFO refutes claim: All you need to know

EPFO shut down the website and stopped linking provident fund (PF) accounts with Aadhaar numbers after confidential data were stolen by hackers from the Aadhaar-seeding portal about a month earlier

Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has apparently had to shut down the portal that it uses to for Aadhaar seeding with provident fund accounts of its subscribers following an alleged data breach where confidential user information was stolen by hackers.

The issue was purportedly raised by EPFO Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy in a letter to Common Service Centre (CSC) Chief Executive Dinesh Tyagi on March 23.

“The web portal has been closed one-and-a-half months ago, immediately after a possible data theft was reported to us during a process of routine security check. There was some problem in the application run by CSC and it is not related to our data centre that maintains the EPF accounts,” Joy told Business Standard on Wednesday.

Speaking to PTI, Tyagi said that while the said application had been designed by the CSC, it was now hosted on EPFO data centres and servers. The EPFO shut down the website on March 22, urging the CSC to secure the confidential data of employees.

The report comes at a time when Aadhaar is embroiled in data breach allegations while also being at the centre of India's privacy debate. The Supreme Court is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the Aadhaar Act and the use of biometric identifier in various government and non-government services.

Here is all you need to know about the EPFO data leak:

The basis of the EPFO data leak report: The reports of the possible data theft are based on a letter purportedly written by EPFO Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy to CSC CEO Dinesh Tyagi on March 23 flagging the data theft issue. “It has been intimated that the data has been stolen by hackers by exploiting the vulnerabilities in the website (aadhaar.epfoservices.com) of EPFO,” Roy wrote in the letter.

The incident, according to an earlier report on Business Standard, came to light after the Intelligence Bureau (IB) informed the Labour and Employment Ministry in March about the data theft from the EPFO’s web portal.

What the EPFO said: EPFO on Wednesday said no confirmed data leakage had been established. "No confirmed data leakage has been established or observed so far. As part of the data security and protection, the EPFO has taken advance action by closing the server and host service through the CSC pending vulnerability checks," it said in a statement.

Why EPFO has suspended CSC services: While announcing the suspension of CSC services, the EPFO said the services were being discontinued on the basis of warnings regarding vulnerabilities in software. "Warnings regarding vulnerabilities in data or software is a routine administrative process based on which the services which were rendered through the CSC have been discontinued from March 22, 2018," EPFO had said.

What the UIDAI said: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Aadhaar-issuing body, said the matter does not pertains to any data breach from UIDAI server as the alleged data breach took place on a website that does not belongs to it.

“This matter does not pertain at all to any Aadhaar data breach from UIDAI servers,” it said in a press statement.

About the portal - aadhaar.epfoservices.com: The website, hosted at the National Data Centre for EPFO and managed by the CSC, used to help formal sector workers link their Aadhaar numbers with the EPFO’s universal account number (UAN) through CSC outlets. It also helped EPFO pensioners to submit their digital life certificates.

Article Source : Business Standard

Paper woes to end: Online EPF withdrawal, pension fixation a reality by May

EPFO has an ambitious plan to settle the claims within few hours after filing of application

 

 

COMPANY NEWS| Retirement fund body EPFO is expected to launch online facility for settlement of claims, including EPF withdrawal and pension fixation, by May this year to put an end to tedious paper work by its members.

At present, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) receive close to 1 crore applications manually for settlement of EPF withdrawal claim, pension fixation or getting group insurance benefit by deceased persons.

"The process of connecting all field offices with a central server is going on. We may introduce the facility for online submission of all types of applications and claims like EPF withdrawal and pension settlement by May this year," EPFO's Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy told PTI.

Joy said that all EPFO offices would be connected to central server in couple of months following which the facility of online submission of all sort of applications can be introduced.

EPFO has an ambitious plan to settle the claims within few hours after filing of application. For instance, it has plans to settle the EPF withdrawal claim within three hours of filing of online application.

As per the scheme, EPFO is required to settle all claims within 20 days from filing of the application for settlement of pension or EPF withdrawal.

Under the pilot, the EPFO has already connected its around 50 field offices with the central server.

In a recent review meeting on digitisation in the EPFO, the field formations and Information Services wing has been asked to link all 123 offices with the central server so that subscribers can be provided services online.

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