Trustees of retirement fund body — Employees Provident Fund Organisation — are meeting here on Tuesday to consider the interest rate for 2014-15 on the over ₹5 lakh crore corpus deposited by about 8 crore PF subscribers.
For 2013-14, the CBT, which met after a gap of one year this January, had settled for 8.75 per cent interest rate on PF deposits, higher than 8.5 per cent in 2012-13. Incidentally, this was just before the general elections in May, which saw a massive rout for the ruling Congress, putting in place a new Government led by Narendra Modi.
While reports said the interest rate this fiscal could be retained at 8.75 per cent, workers’ representatives in CBT, a tripartite body, said all trade unions, including the BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, would push for a 9.5 per cent interest rate.
“What is the use of Modi if workers, already burdened with price rise, continue to get 8.75 per cent interest on their retirement savings?” said DL Sachdeva, a CBT member and national secretary of All India Trade Union Congress, adding that they would also raise the issue of the Government not yet notifying the ₹1,000 monthly pension as well as higher PF wage ceiling of ₹15,000 (from ₹6,500), which the Modi Government had promised soon after taking over.
“The Labour Minister had given us an assurance on June 24, saying he would notify these within two weeks,” said Sachdeva.
The EPFO, which received ₹77,000 crore as contributions in 2012-13, is estimated to have had an income of ₹20,796.96 crore last year.
The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting includes a discussion on the investment pattern of the retirement funds, appointment of a consultant for selecting fund managers, custodian and concurrent auditor as well as evaluation of portfolio managers so far.