EPFO board defers decision on interest rate

New Delhi, Jan 27: The Board of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which met here today to decide on the interest rate for this year, has deferred the decision.

''The decision on Employees Provident Fund interest rate has been deferred, it will not be taken in this meeting. No date has been fixed for the next meeting,'' CITU Secretary WR Varadarajan, who was present at the meeting, told reporters.

''Further talks will be held between Ministries of Finance and Labour over the rate of interest on EPF. The matter has to be discussed comprehensively for which we will sit on some other day. The overall investment pattern of EPF in stock markets also needs to be decided,'' he added.

However, the routine items like review of business process re-engineering (BPR) will be taken up during the day-long meet.

The board was to decide up on the interest rate to be paid to its subscribers in the current fiscal. The present rate of interest being paid to over 40 million EPF subscribers is 8.5 per cent.

The last meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of EPF in December had failed to arrive at a consensus on the interest rate because of its weak financial position.

The trade unions are demanding a 9.5 per cent interest rate after the government last year cut the rate to 8.5 per cent for 2005-06 from 9.5 per cent in 2004-05.

UNI