New Delhi: In a major relief for pensioners, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has partnered with India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) to launch a free doorstep Digital Life Certificate (DLC) service for pensioners covered under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS).

The new initiative is aimed at helping elderly pensioners, particularly those with mobility issues, avoid repeated visits to banks, post offices, or EPFO service centres to submit their annual life certificate. Submission of a valid Digital Life Certificate is mandatory every year to ensure uninterrupted pension payments.

What Is the Doorstep DLC Service?

Under the doorstep facility, trained postal staff—such as postmen or Gramin Dak Sevaks—will visit pensioners at their homes and assist in generating the Digital Life Certificate using Aadhaar-based biometric authentication. The certificate is generated digitally and uploaded directly to the EPFO system, ensuring real-time verification.

Importantly, the entire service is free of cost for pensioners, as EPFO bears the service charges payable to IPPB.

The Digital Life Certificate, commonly known as Jeevan Pramaan, confirms that the pensioner is alive and eligible to continue receiving monthly pension benefits. Earlier, pensioners had to physically visit designated centres, which often caused inconvenience, especially for senior citizens and those living in remote areas.

Who Can Avail the Service?

The facility is available for EPS pensioners whose life certificate is:

Due for submission, or

Likely to expire within the next 30 days

This proactive approach is expected to significantly reduce delays and pension disruptions.

How to Book a Doorstep Visit

Pensioners or their family members can book a home visit by calling the IPPB helpline number 033-2202-9000. Once the request is registered, a postal representative equipped with biometric devices will be assigned to complete the process at the pensioner’s residence.

EPFO’s Instructions to Field Offices

EPFO has directed its zonal and regional offices to widely publicise the doorstep service and assist pensioners in choosing the most convenient mode of life certificate submission. Pensioners are also encouraged to explore alternatives such as self-submission using mobile phones through face authentication.

The initiative reflects EPFO’s broader push towards digital inclusion, ease of living, and pensioner-centric governance, ensuring that age or physical limitations do not become barriers to accessing rightful pension benefits.

India is unlikely to face any major impact from the 25 per cent tariff announced by the US President Donald Trump on countries doing business with Iran, as per government sources cited by news agency ANI, who pointed to India’s limited trade exposure with Tehran.Newly announced US tariffs are ‘likely to have minimal impact on India’ as Iran does not feature among the nation’s top 50 trading partners, the government sources said. India’s total trade with Iran stood at around $1.6 billion last year, accounting for just 0.15 per cent of India’s overall trade. This figure is expected to decline further in the current financial year due to broader external economic factors. Of Iran’s total imports of about $68 billion in 2024, the UAE, China, Turkiye and the European Union together accounted for the bulk, while India’s share was only $1.2 billion, or 2.3 per cent.Exporters have also downplayed concerns. Ajay Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), said Indian companies and banks remain fully compliant with US Office of Foreign Assets Control norms and engage only in permitted humanitarian trade, mainly food items and pharmaceuticals, reported news agency PTI.“There is, therefore, no basis to anticipate any adverse impact on India,” Sahai said.He noted that India’s trade with Iran largely falls outside the scope of sanctions due to its humanitarian nature. In 2024-25, India’s total trade with Iran was $1.68 billion, including $1.24 billion in exports, primarily from the farm and pharmaceutical sectors, as per PTI.Industry representatives, however, flagged other challenges. Sahai said the sharp depreciation of the Iranian currency is a bigger concern for exporters, as it weakens consumer purchasing power and raises risks of cancelled contracts. Rice exporters also said their current exposure to Iran is limited and increasingly routed through the UAE to manage risks, reported ANI.Overall, exporters remain cautious but believe the proposed US tariff will have little direct effect on India, given the small trade volumes and the humanitarian nature of most shipments.

Central banks across the world have joined together to declare that they stand in “full solidarity” with the Federal Reserve’s chair after the US launched a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell.

The heads of the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada are among 11 senior bankers who have signed a statement highlighting the importance of independence in setting interest rates.

“Chair Powell has served with integrity, focused on his mandate and an unwavering commitment to the public interest,” they said.

The Department of Justice is conducting the probe. President Donald Trump has said he did not “know anything” about the investigation.

The probe is linked to testimony Powell gave to a Senate committee about renovations to Federal Reserve buildings.

It follows a year of relentless attacks on the Fed chair by Trump.

As well as criticising Powell’s decisions on interest rates, Trump has made personal comments, calling the Fed chair a “major loser” and a “numbskull”.

Commenting on the Fed chair, the global central bankers said in their joint statement: “To us, he is a respected colleague who is held in the highest regard by all who have worked with him.”

Until the weekend, Powell had stayed largely silent in the face of Trump’s attacks but on Sunday, he publicly pushed back and warned that the independence of the US central bank was at stake.

“This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation,” Powell said.

In their joint statement on Tuesday, the senior financial institutions said: “The independence of central banks is a cornerstone of price, financial and economic stability in the interest of the citizens that we serve.

“It is therefore critical to preserve that independence, with full respect for the rule of law and democratic accountability.”

Powell, who Trump nominated as Fed chair in 2017 during his first term in the White House, is set to step down in May.

Trump is expected to name his successor in the coming weeks.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said he would oppose the nomination of Powell’s replacement by Trump, and any other Fed Board nominee, until the matter was “fully resolved”.

Powell has also been backed by three former chairs of the Fed – Janet Yellen, Ben Bernanke and Alan Greenspan. A number of other eminent former officials have publicly declared their support for him and the bank’s independence.

Yellen, who was Powell’s immediate predecessor, said the criminal investigation was “extremely chilling”, adding that investors should be concerned.

“You have a president that says the Fed should be cutting rates to lower rate payments on the federal debt… It is the road to banana republic,” she told CNBC.

The signatories in full are:

• Andrew Bailey, governor of the Bank of England
• Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank
• Erik Thedéen, governor of Sveriges Riksbank
• Christian Kettel Thomsen, chairman of the Danmarks Nationalbank
• Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank
• Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia
• Tiff Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada
• Chang Yong Rhee, governor of the Bank of Korea
• Gabriel Galípolo, governor of the Banco Central do Brasil
• François Villeroy de Galhau, chair of the Bank for International Settlements
• Pablo Hernández de Cos, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements