EPFO subscriber? 5 important Provident Fund updates you might have missed
EPFO Subscribers Alert! EPF or the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) is one of the best investment schemes to build a corpus for retirement. The saving scheme was introduced under Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Act, 1952 and is managed by the Central Board of Trustees that consists of representatives from three parties, namely, the government, the employers and the employees. Currently, the employees earn an interest rate of 8.55 per cent annually on the contribution made towards provident fund (PF). Since a decent part of an employee's hard-earned money goes towards EPF, it is important to be aware of the latest updates. Here are five important EPFO updates you may have missed recently:-
No change in interest rate
Amid various reports claiming that the retirement body might change the interest rate, PTI reported that the move is unlikely for the 2018-19 fiscal. "The interest rate would be retained at 8.55 per cent for the current fiscal as provided in 2017-18 in view of forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The EPFO's income projections for the current fiscal would be tabled in the meeting," it quoted a source as saying. (PTI)
Issue to be raised
The same report claimed that the proposal will be tabled in a meeting of the trustees of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation on February 21. "The proposal for providing interest rate for the current fiscal would come up in the meeting of the trustees of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation on February 21," the source said. (PTI)
New fund managers to be appointed?
Another important issue that could be raised in the meeting would be the appointment of new fund managers and review of investment made by the EPFO in exchange trade funds (ETFs). The EPFO had started investing in the ETFs in August 2016. Presently it invests 15 per cent of its Rs 1.5 crore investible deposits at hand every year in the ETFs. It has invested around Rs 50,000 crore in the ETFs so far. (PTI)
Beneficiaries under PMRPY cross 1-crore mark
Last month, government announced that number of employees benefiting from the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY) has crossed 1 crore. Under the scheme, the government is paying full employers' contribution of 12 per cent (towards EPF and Employees' Pension Scheme both), for a period of 3 years in respect of new employees who have been registered with the EPFO on or after April 1, 2016, with salary up to Rs 15,000 per month. (PTI)
1.8 crore employees enrol for EPF in 15 months
In his reply on the motion of thanks on the President's address in the Lok Sabha last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said about 1.8 crore people had enrolled in the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) in the past 15 months, and 64 per cent of them, who were below the age of 28 were first-time employees. (PTI)