BSE’s benchmark index Sensex will now be considered on an equal footing to Nifty index of the NSE by Employee Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). The EPFO fund will now invest their corpus equally in Sensex and Nifty-linked exchange traded funds (ETFs).
The Central Board of Trustees administers EPFO funds that is made from contribution of workforce engaged in India’s organised sector. Earlier, the fund was investing 100 per cent of its corpus only in Nifty ETFs. Later, the fund started giving 25 per cent of its corpus to Sensex ETF and has now decided to make the proportion 50:50 for ETFs linked to both the indices. This will help generate volumes on both the indices equally. EPFO gets deposits of more than ₹1.2-lakh crore from its subscribers every year.
EPFO was allowed to invest in equities in 2015. Its allocation to equity markets increased to 15 per cent from 5 per cent of its incremental flows in 2018. The balance of its funds are invested in government securities, bank fixed deposits and private sector bonds.