EPFO meeting to decide rate of interest on PF today

New Delhi, July 4 (ANI): The Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is meeting today to discuss the rate of interest for provident fund for the current financial year.

Labour Minster Mallikarjun Kharge will chair the meeting.

The EPFO meeting, which is happening two days before the presentation of the general budget, is considered crucial as the decision taken by the EPFO has to be scrutinised by the Finance Ministry.

Nearly 4.5 crore employees in the country benefit from the provident fund. The EPFO is expected to retain the 8.5 percent interest rate for the current fiscal too.

The meeting is also expected to discus the Finance Ministry's suggestion to invest 15 percent of the EPFO"s corpus, which is about Rs 1.82 lakh crore in companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) and also equity-linked schemes of SEBI-regulated mutual funds, which was rejected by the EPFO's Finance and Investment Committee in March.

According to sources, the EPFO has no reserves left to pay higher interest rate than 8.5 percent in this fiscal as it had suffered a Rs 139-crore deficit during 2008-09. The deficit was later made up from the available Contingency Fund of around Rs 150 crore.

The Central Board of Trustee will send its recommendations on the interest rate on provident fund deposits, to the Finance Ministry for final approval and notification. (ANI) (ANI)