Aceiling of Rs 5 lakh as an annual contribution to the General Provident Fund (GPF) in a financial year has been fixed for government employees. GPF is a scheme like the Public Provident Fund (PPF) but available only to Government employees.
As per General Provident Fund (Central Service) Rules, 1960, there was a ceiling on the percentage of emoluments that can be invested in GPF but there was no ceiling on the total amount that can be invested. Through a Gazzette notification dated 15th June 2022, however, these rules were amended.
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As per the new rules, the total amount deposited in the GPF account in a financial year cannot be more than Rs 5 lakh.
“In accordance with General Provident Fund (Central Service) Rules, 1960, the amount of subscription to the GPF in respect of a subscriber, shall not be less than 6% of the emoluments and not more than total emoluments of the subscriber. However, there was no ceiling on the total amount of subscription of a subscriber into his GPF account in a financial year,” the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) noted in an Office Memorandum (O.M.) dated 11th October 2022.
“Rules 7, 8 & 10 of the General Provident Fund (Central Service) Rules, 1960 have been amended vide Notification No. G.S.R. 96 dated 15.06.2022. As per the said Notification dated 15.06.2022, the sum of the monthly subscription by a subscriber under the GPF during a financial year together with the amount of arrear subscriptions deposited in that financial year shall not exceed the threshold limit (at present Rupees Five Lakh),” it added.
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The DoPPW has requested all Ministries/Departments to give wide publicity to the above limit of subscription under GPF in a financial year.
GPF interest rate
The current interest rate on GPF deposits is the same as PPF. The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) recently kept the interest on GPF unchanged at 7.1% for the October-December 2022 quarter. The interest rate for other similar schemes like CPF, AISPF, SRPF and AFPPF is also 7.1% for the current quarter.