Athira Sethu
Kochi, 14 July 2026
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has announced that it will credit an interest rate of 8.25% per annum to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) accounts in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26). According to the Labour Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya, people will be able to view their current balances in their passbooks by 15th July, 2026.
Interest will be credited to 34 crore EPF accounts worth more than ₹1.44 lakh crore. Before crediting the amount into the member’s account, the process is done and verified by the EPFO officials.
In order to help people view their PF balance easily, the EPFO has provided an additional service called ‘Passbook Lite’, which has been included in the Member Portal by EPFO.
‘Passbook Lite’ allows users to view the summary of their EPF account once they are logged into their respective account. They need not open their passbooks; instead, they can get all details like their latest PF balance, employer contributions, withdrawal amounts, and a few contribution entries.
This new facility will be quite helpful for those who wish to verify whether their monthly PF contribution has been credited to their account or to know the available balance before applying for withdrawal from the account.
However, the new Passbook Lite is not the replacement for the traditional EPF passbook. Those individuals who seek detailed records, including transaction history or past details, may continue using the old Passbook Portal. The complete passbook will give users access to all transactions made in the account.
Passbook Lite was introduced by the EPFO to simplify and speed up its online services. As it will be now easily accessible through the Member Portal, there is no need for people to visit another website to know the balance of their EPF accounts.
How to Use Passbook Lite
| Step | What to Do |
| 1 | Visit the EPFO Member Portal and log in using your Universal Account Number (UAN), password, and the OTP sent to your registered mobile number. |
| 2 | After logging in, click on the ‘View’ tab on the dashboard. |
| 3 | Select ‘Passbook Lite’ from the drop-down menu. |
| 4 | You can now view a summary of your EPF account, including your latest balance, recent contributions, and recent withdrawals. |
Now that interest in FY26 is added to their account, the Passbook Lite service makes it easy for EPF members to verify that their new balance is showing up in their account, while the normal passbook continues to be useful for getting information about the account.
