Over Rs 9,300 crore lies unclaimed in 31 lakh EPF accounts, enough to build 3 IITs
NEW DELHI, JUNE 3 : Even as the Centre has ushered in a new era for provident fund subscribers with the notification of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, 2026, an RTI (Right to Information) accessed exclusively by India Today has revealed that more than Rs 9,330 crore remains locked in 30.91 lakh inoperative EPF accounts across the country.The EPF Scheme, 2026, which came into effect on June 29 after being notified in the Gazette, replaces the EPF Scheme, 1952. The new framework is aimed at simplifying provident fund rules and making the system more digital for nearly eight crore active EPFO subscribers.
Against the backdrop of these reforms, the RTI response offers a snapshot of the volume of workers’ retirement savings that continue to remain unclaimed.
According to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), as of March 31, 2026, there were 30,91,862 inoperative EPF accounts holding an unclaimed balance of approximately Rs 9,330 crore.
The latest RTI data shows only a modest improvement over the previous financial year. While the number of inoperative EPF accounts declined by around 92,000- from 31.83 lakh on March 31, 2025, to 30.91 lakh a year later-the unclaimed amount fell by 851 crore, from 10,181 crore to 9,330 crore.
Despite this decline, the data underscores the scale of the problem, with nearly 31 lakh dormant accounts and thousands of crores of workers’ retirement savings still awaiting claim.
WHAT RS 9,330 CRORE CAN BUY?
The magnitude of the unclaimed corpus becomes clearer when viewed against major public spending.
The Rs 9,330 crore lying in dormant EPF accounts is almost equal to the Rs 10,169 crore the Centre has spent on the UDAN regional connectivity scheme since its launch in 2016.
It is also nearly equivalent to the Union government’s 2026-27 allocation for Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
According to a 2014 government estimate, the cost of setting up an IIT was Rs 1,750 crore.
Adjusted for inflation, that works out to around Rs 2,934 crore in 2026, meaning the unclaimed EPF corpus could fund three IITs, with over Rs 500 crore still left over. The comparison is illustrative and highlights the scale of workers’ retirement savings lying dormant in EPF accounts.
RTI SOUGHT 6-YEAR TREND
To understand whether the number of inoperative accounts has been increasing over the years, India Today sought year-wise details of inoperative EPF accounts and the amount lying in them for the last five financial years.
The EPFO, however, said it could provide information only for 2025 and 2026.
In its reply, the organisation stated that the Inoperative Accounts Cell (IAC) was established during 2025-26, and information for earlier years is not maintained by the cell.
AADHAAR-LINKED ACCOUNT DETAILS WITHHELD
The RTI application also sought details of inoperative accounts linked with Aadhaar, the amount lying in such accounts, and the status of auto-settlement for these accounts.
The EPFO declined to disclose the information, invoking Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act, which exempts information available to a public authority in a fiduciary relationship from disclosure.
NO DATA ON HIGH-VALUE DORMANT ACCOUNTS
India Today also asked the EPFO to disclose the number of inoperative EPF accounts with balances exceeding 5 lakh. The organisation replied that such information is not maintained in the format sought and therefore could not be provided under the RTI Act.
The RTI response offers a snapshot of a persistent challenge facing India’s retirement savings system: while the number of dormant accounts is gradually declining, thousands of crores belonging to workers remain unclaimed years after they stopped contributing to their provident fund accounts.
-PTI
