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New Delhi: In a significant development ahead of Union Budget 2026 the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is reportedly preparing for the major reforms in the provident fund systems — EPFO 3.0. As per an Indian Express report citing a government official the EPFO 3.0 will bring a new portal new software at the backend and the use of AI-powered language translation tools to communicate with members in vernacular languages. It is important to note that EPFO 3.0 is being designed as a comprehensive overhaul of the retirement fund body’s technology architecture bringing it closer to a core banking–style system similar to those used by banks today. ALSO READ: Modi government to give major relief on Mutual Funds in Union Budget 2026? There will be a complete revamp under EPFO 3.0 new architecture core banking solution at the backend. We will be able to cater in terms of scale to all the organised and unorganised workers. It will take into account the increase in volumes. The entire system will change including the portal. As of now incremental changes are happening the next phase will take care of all future needs said the official as cited by The Indian Express. Why EPFO Needs a Core Banking Solution Notably the role of EPFO is set to expand after the implementation of the Labour Codes. EPFO is likely to cover not just organised sector employees but also unorganised workers at scale. According to the reports EPFO may also be entrusted with the administration of a social security fund for unorganised workers which would be separate from the social security fund for gig and platform workers. At present the retirement fund body has nearly 8 crore active members and manages a corpus of around Rs 28 lakh crore. A core banking solution is seen as critical to managing this scale efficiently in the future. Vernacular Language Support Through AI EPFO 3.0 will reportedly increase the dependency on AI-based translation tools to communicate with members in their native languages. This will improve the accessibility. We will use more vernacular tools like Bhashini to give information in the vernacular medium the official said. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has developed an AI-powered language translation platform Bhashini is expected to play a key role in member outreach. Where EPFO 2.0 Stands Today While EPFO 3.0 is being planned the ongoing EPFO 2.0 reforms are nearing completion. The much-anticipated UPI-linked withdrawal facility is expected to be rolled out by April with only three modules pending. In September we rolled out a revamped ECR (electronic challan cum return) an internal user management module which does the internal task allocation. Now we are left with just three modules – pension claim and overall annual accounts. Work is going on it is a matter of 1-2 months the official said.