The Centralised IT-Enabled System (CITES) Project

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Why in News

The **Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)** recently completed a planned nationwide database consolidation under its **Centralised IT-Enabled System (CITES)** project.

This project modernizes the service structure of **EPFO** by replacing old decentralised setups with an automated processing engine and a single national database.
The **Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)** under the **Ministry of Labour and Employment** manages and runs this system.
The **Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)** designed and engineered the technical structure of this system.

The project disconnects subscribers from specific regional offices so that any **EPFO** field office in India can serve any member.
It eliminates technical and procedural delays caused by manual claims, especially for pension approvals and settlements for deceased members.

The system merged more than **120** separate regional databases and transferred several lakh crore records onto a single cloud platform.
Subscribers can log into a unified portal with their **Universal Account Number (UAN)** and password to view PF balances, active claim statuses, and pension records.
It automatically groups all past and current member IDs under one **UAN** linked securely to verified **KYC** records.
If an issue occurs during processing, **EPFO** offices raise questions online so members can reply digitally without visiting an office.
The centralized system disburses monthly pensions directly across different regions without requiring local office file transfers.
It creates the data structure needed to link PF accounts with the **Unified Payments Interface (UPI)** for instant money withdrawals in the future.