Financial Year 2014: Unions to Press for 9.5% Interest on PF Deposits
Posted on: 08/Jan/2014 3:44:37 PM
Trade Union will press for 9.5% interest on Provident Fund deposits from EPFO – Employees Provident Fund Organization. There are over 5 Crore subscribers. Apex decision making body meeting was scheduled on Monday to discuss this proposal among other issues.
Mr. D. L. Sachdev, All India Trade Union Secretary and a CBT member, told PTI that the Union would seek 1% higher interest as against the 2013 interest rate of 8.5%. This would cover cost of inflation to a certain extent.
The EPFO, which is estimated to have an income of Rs 20,796.96 Crore in the current fiscal, needs Rs 20,740 Crore to pay 8.5 percent interest to its subscribers, as per the agenda listed for the CBT meeting.
As per the estimates, hiking the interest payment by half a per cent to 9 per cent would require an additional amount of Rs 1,220 Crore, which does not seem feasible.
However, another EPFO trustee and All India Secretary Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh Virjesh Upadhyay said: "The interest rate for this fiscal could be higher than 8.5 percent provided in 2012-13. We will put our suggestions before the CBT. If we reduce certain administrative expenses and improve efficiency, then payment of interest rate higher than 8.5 per cent will be possible. We will press for 9.5% interest rate”.
