Need of money? Heres how you can withdraw amount from your PF

Labour Ministry has been taking steps from the beginning of the year to make withdrawal of Employee Provident Fund (EPF) as simpler as possible. 

For the current financial year, the retirement fund body Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will soon be announcing the interest rate on Provident Fund deposits.

The EPFO had lowered the rate of return for its over 4.5 crore subscribers to 8.65% for 2016-17, from 8.8% in 2015-16. 

Labour Minister Bandaru Dattreya on July 6 had said, "Last time, I gave 8.65% and this year, our rate of return has come 13.3% on equity investments. The CBT will propose a rate of interest based on income projection for this fiscal. Then, as its chairman, we will take the decision." 

Now, the question is how to withdraw PF amount? 

A PF provides financial security for salaried employees after retirement. And, checking on EPF can give you valuable insights into the status of your PF account especially for instances when you wish to partially withdraw your PF amount or in case you wish to avail a loan against your EPF.

Generally, withdrawing PF at early years of service is not advisable by experts simply because it is a corpus that you gradually build so as to ensure enough money on retirement. 

But, if you still want to withdraw the amount, then Form 19 is for you. 

Form 19 which is available either with employers or can be downloaded from EPFI website, is to be filled and submitted for withdrawing the PF amount. Once the application is submitted to the regional EPF Office, the PF amount along with the interest earned is received by the applicant within three months from the date of application.