New Delhi The Centre has ratified the decision of the trustees’ board of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the state-run retirement fund manager, to maintain the interest rate on provident-fund deposits for 2024-25 at 8.25%, a move that will benefit nearly 70 salaried Indians.
On Feb 28, the EPFO had kept the widely watched metric of middle-class savings unchanged at 8.25% despite global financial uncertainties, following which the decision had been sent to the finance ministry for concurrence.
“The finance ministry has given its concurrence to the 8.25% PF interest. The labour ministry has sent a communication to the EPFO in this regard,” an official said. With this, the interests accrued will be credited to the accounts EPFO subscribers.
Provident funds provide retirement income and a financial safety net for nearly 70-million salaried Indians. It is often the key corpus of lifetime savings for the working people.
The present EPF deposit interest rate is significantly lower than the EPF deposits rate for the year 2015-16, when it used to be 8.8%.
The EPFO is mandated to invest its corpus in stock markets, equities and exchange-traded funds. In November last year, the board in its 236th meeting chaired by labour minister Mandaviya, approved reinvesting 50% of its redemption proceeds from exchange traded funds (ETFs) back into equities.
{{/usCountry}}The EPFO is mandated to invest its corpus in stock markets, equities and exchange-traded funds. In November last year, the board in its 236th meeting chaired by labour minister Mandaviya, approved reinvesting 50% of its redemption proceeds from exchange traded funds (ETFs) back into equities.
{{/usCountry}}EPFO savings are a vital source of social security for employees. An employer and worker both are required by law to contribute 12% of a person’s basic salary towards a corpus managed by the EPFO.