EPFO, (Employees Provident Fund Organisation) is planning to bring some festive cheer to the salaried employees by crediting the interest declared for 2020-21 in the accounts of 6 crore subscribers.
The interest rate of 8.5%, declared for 2020-21 in March this year, has been awaiting the finance ministry’s approval for over six months now.
According to an Economic Times report, a top official of the labour ministry said that a meeting was recently held between the two ministries to address some of the queries of the finance ministry on the interest rate declared for the previous fiscal.
“It should be happening soon,” the official said, referring to the finance ministry’s approval.
Another official of the labour ministry told Economic Times that the finance ministry had discussed the issues about the rate of interest being higher compared with that of other government schemes, including public provident funds or small saving schemes.
The officials said, “They had raised questions on the reduced surplus with the EPFO on 8.5%. However, EPFO retained that it is in a comfortable position to pay out the interest at 8.5%,”
Employees Provident Fund Organisation had planned an income of around Rs 70,300 crore in the previous fiscal, including Rs 4,000 crore from the sale of its equity investments and Rs 65,000 crore from debt.
