New Delhi, Feb 19 (IANS): The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced an online helpdesk to help members trace out and settle "inoperative accounts", the labour ministry said Thursday.

The EPFO will "assist the holders of inoperative accounts to trace out their accounts and effect settlement or transfer of the same to their present account," a statement here said.

Provident fund accounts that fail to make contributions for 36 continuous months are classified as inoperative and interest is not credited to these accounts from the date they turn inoperative.

A staggering Rs.27,000 crore is lying in inoperative EPFO accounts as on March 2014.

This online helpdesk can be accessed through the EPFO's website. After the members provide details of the inoperative accounts, a reference ID is created.

"Based on the reference ID generated, the field office concerned (where the member held his PF account) shall contact the member and guide subscribers in getting the settlement or effecting the PF transfer as the case may be," the ministry said.

"The introduction of Universal Account Number (UAN) is expected to greatly facilitate the above initiative as UAN would enable consolidation of multiple previous PF account numbers with the present one," it added.

The decision to set up the helpdesk follows instructions by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the Shrameva Jayate programme in October last year, the statement said.