India, Oct. 15 -- The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has rolled out its biggest reform in years to pushback against new withdrawal limits and requirement for a minimum balance.

The EPFO board has approved a proposal that allows members to withdraw up to 100% of their "eligible balance" for specific needs, while mandating that at least 25% of the corpus remains untouched in the EPF account. The final settlement period for members seeking to withdraw their entire PF corpus post-job loss has been extended to 12 months, from two earlier. For the pension fund under EPS, the waiting period is now 36 months.

The idea behind EPFO's new rules is to make the provident-fund access more flexible, streamline digital operations, and di...