Home > Business > PTI > Report
PM noncommittal on EPF rate hike
December 16, 2004 20:37 IST
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the government would consider the demand for hiking the interest rate of the Employees Provident Fund, hours after Communist Party of India MP Gurudas Dasgupta claimed that Singh had agreed to increase the rate to 9.5 per cent from the existing 8.5 per cent.
"I have not said anything... (about increasing the EPF rate)", he told reporters when asked about Dasgupta's statement.
"I said we will consider it. When Parliament is in session, I cannot make any announcement (outside)," Singh said.
The prime minister was talking to reporters at his official residence after launching Doordarshan's direct-to-home service.
Dasgupta had said after the meeting that, "As I understood, he (Prime Minister) agreed to increase the interest rate from 8.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent".
The CPI leader expected it to be done before the next Budget.
A one per cent increase in EPF interest rate will lead to a gap of Rs 927 crore (Rs 9.27 billion) between what EPF gives to its four crore beneficiaries and what it earns on investments, according to calculations made by the Central Board of Trustees of the EPFO.