Announcing the first hike in the last four years, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has inflated the offered interest rate to 8.65 percent.
This hike will put a surplus of Rs 151 crore in 2018-19 on EPFO, as compared to Rs 586 crore in 2017-18.
Ahead of the general election, the retirement fund body under Union Ministry of Labour announced this favorable hike for its 60 million subscribers for 2018-19.
The inflated rate which is offered is 10 basis points higher than the interest rate announced by the EPFO in 2017-18. The rate is similar to the offering in 2016-17 but lesser than the 8.8 percent paid out in the previous years.
Post the meeting with the central board of trustees (CBT) of EPFO, the Union Labour Minister Santosh Kumar said, “We have been working for the working class and this interest rate hike shows that we do respect their faith in us.”
CBT is the decision-making body of EPFO, with representatives of employers, employees and the government, under the supervision of the labour minister. He added that the required calculations are made and therefore it has been concluded that the announced rate will not bring any negative deficit on EPFO.
