The very mention of a Provident Fund Office in the coal belt of Dhanbad brings to the mind images of a non-descript office housing voluminous, dust-caked, dog-eared files and ledgers. Indeed this was the picture of CMPFO (Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation) in not so different past. However, in a few months, the organisation is being cited as a trailblazer with practically no extra budgetary support. Almost everyone working in the coalfields of India knows it and most people deal with it at some time in their life.

CMPFO (Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation) is the organisation, responsible for the provision of provident fund and pension for the workers of collieries. Today the success of the organisation is being discussed in the international conferences. CMPFO is proof that with right guidance and diligence impossible can be achieved. And the person who is credited with bringing this turnaround is Mr B. K. Panda who is the “friend, philosopher and guide” of the organisation.

Established by an Act of Parliament in 1948, the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organization is tasked with ensuring social security of India’s coal miners. Based in Dhanbad, it operates across 23 regional offices at 17 locations in the country.

CMPFO has around 60000 members and serves approximately 250000 pensioners. More than 20 active coal companies are part of the system and this number continues to grow. The CMPFO administers approximately US$8 billion worth of funds.

CMPFO is working with SAP and an IT consultant, Webel technologu Ltd. SAP’s Financila Services Colelction and Disbursement (FSCD) solution has been used to enable integration and digitisation of its various processes.

The project christened NIDHI, namely, New Initiative for Digitization and Handling of Information, aims at providing end-to-end solution on a single integrated platform for management of provident fund, advances and pension settlement, all integrated with centralised financial accounting. With this, the CMPFO has become the first social security organisation in India to implement full computerisation with SAP ERP and networking.

Mr Panda said: “We wanted to implement a solution that could help us reduce the turnaround time in settling the outstanding amounts of our coal workers and improve our standards in servicing them and their family members”.

Mr Panda was recently invited to address the FINTECH ASIA 2007 in Singapore, which was also being participated by 20 other experts across the world. The event organised by International Data Corporation, appreciated the organisation that make uses of the latest upgradation technologies. Panda devoted his entire 45-minute speech to “The reforms and Computerisation of PF and Pension in securing Asia’s future”.

CMPFO has come a long way since it started the Project, but Mr. Panda is not going to sit on his laurels. He is committed to further reforms. These include:
* Increasing automation and introducing better control systems to improve efficiency and transparency
* Continuing change management efforts to better improve communication with subscribers
* Improving the ability of subscribers to gain anytime access to their full account details ® Building expertise around fund management administration to improve funds disbursement and claims settlement
* Classifying and digitalising documents reducing the amount of unstructured content in the value chain. Mr. Panda believes in participative governance. He involves himself with the employees, stake holders, service providers. That is the mantra of his success.