On October 13, the retirement fund organisation EPFO stated that unemployed members would now be eligible to withdraw their provident fund corpus following a 12-month period without employment.
In a meeting on Monday, the Central Board of Trustees, the highest decision-making body of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), led by Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, decided to change the plan.
This coincides with nationwide layoff announcements from firms like TCS.

What is the latest EPFO regulation?
The new EPFO regulations will allow unemployed workers to withdraw their last PF balance following a 12-month period of unemployment. Only 36 months must pass before the last PF pension withdrawal is permitted.

This is more than the two months that are currently needed for both events.
According to a statement from the EPFO, "it is also decided to change the period for availing premature final settlement of EPF from the existing 2 months to 12 months and also to change the final pension withdrawal period from 2 months to 36 months."

It further stated that "the liberalisation of partial withdrawals ensures members can meet immediate financial needs without compromising their retirement savings or pension entitlements."

How much may you withdraw from your PF account?
You can currently take out your whole PF balance following a full year of unemployed.

In order to promote interest benefits for members, the EPFO has also ruled that complete PF withdrawals would not be permitted.

EPFO members will now only be able to withdraw 75% of their funds and must always maintain a 25% deposit in their account.