The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may soon credit the interest declared for 2020-21 in the accounts of 60 million subscribers, bringing some festive cheer to the salaried class. 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.
A top official of the labour ministry told ET 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 said the finance ministry had raised issues about the rate of interest being higher compared with that of other government schemes, including public provident fund or small saving schemes.
“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%,” the official said.
EPFO had estimated an income of around Rs 70,300 crore in the previous fiscal, including Rs 4,000 crore from sale of its equity investments and Rs 65,000 crore from debt.
