The payroll data has been revised downwards for each of the nine months between September 2017 and May this year
Retirement fund body EPFO is planning to settle all claims like transfer and withdrawal of provident fund within three days, a move that will benefit over one crore such claimants every year.
Experts say it's better to transfer the amount to one's current EPFO account than opting for a withdrawal.
Retirement fund body EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees (CBT) is likely to decide rate of interest on PF deposits for 2012-13 in its meeting scheduled on January 15.
EPFO manages a corpus of about Rs 257,000 crore with subscribers' base of over 4.5 crore.
The addition in January was 131 per cent higher as compared with 3.87 lakh EPFO subscribers added in the year-ago month.
EPFO had started investing ETFs in August last year.
The order also provides that the field office will incur expenditure on the facilitation function under the head of publicity.
The retirement fund body plans to launch 'One Employee One EPF Account' system on May 1.
It wants PF to be calculated on all other allowances made by employer under sundry heads.
HDFC Bank's latest shareholding data showed that the room for foreign investment has fallen just 5 basis points short of the threshold set by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) to fully include the stock in its indices. Currently, the index provider has applied an adjustment factor of 0.5 since the foreign room is less than 25 per cent. Removal of the adjustment factor will result in inflows of a massive $4.8 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) into HDFC Bank, according to Brian Freitas, a New Zealand-based analyst with Periscope Analytics.
'A subscriber will know exactly how much of his money is in debt and how much in equity.'
The government on Wednesday cautioned officers of retirement fund body EPFO against any delay in settlement of claims and updation of account, saying their performances would be closely "watched".
At present this facility is available to workers of (un-exempted) firms which do not have their PF trusts and manage their employees' accounts with their respective regional fund commissioners of the EPFO. It was launched in October last year.
EFPO launched a number of new facilities this year.
Over 50 million subscribers of the retirement fund body EPFO can obtain e-passbook along with details of their updated accounts online from Wednesday.
Some unions have opposed EPFO investing in share markets.
High rates of such schemes deter banks from dropping borrowing rates - and thus lending rates
Retirement fund manager EPFO that has initiated the process of seeding KYC details like PAN, Aadhaar of contributing members for making Universal Account Number (UAN) has set a target of seeding 2 crore (20 million) bank account data by end of this month.
The return from the ETF investment will be more than the 8.75 per cent the EPFO offers to subscribers now.
Retirement fund body EPFO will cut exposure in corporate bonds and park more funds in the secure government securities.
EPFO is also contemplating providing permanent or universal account number to it all active members by October this year.
Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) and Knowledge processing Outsourcing (KPO) firms are covered by the retirement fund body EPFO, Parliament was informed.
The 48-odd million employees covered by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may be touched that the finance ministry is actually considering a proposal to extend the organisation a fiscal helping hand to offer a rate of interest comparable with other savings instruments.
'There is no question of diverting funds. This government is pro-poor, pro-worker and pro-progressive.'
The EPFO launched one-page simplified forms for withdrawal.
The 4.7 crore (47 million) EPFO subscribers were left guessing during the year on continuance of 9.5 per cent interest rate for this fiscal, with the retirement fund body, in an unprecedented development, deciding to refer it to the finance ministry for a final decision.
EPFO manages a huge corpus of over Rs 6 lakh crore (Rs 6 trillion).
In January, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation had asked the field staff to ensure the collection of data in respect of member joining on or after March 1, on a monthly basis and in respect of existing members by June 30, 2013.
Ahead of the crucial CBT meet, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's advisory body Finance and Investment Committee will firm up its view on the matter.
"It is felt there should be an arm's-length distance between the fund manager and the custodian of securities. There should be separation between fund manager, banker and the custodian," a senior labour ministry official said.
The facility for viewing PF accounts online was launched here by Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola in the presence of Minister of State for Labour and Employment Kodikunnil Suresh and EPFO's Central Provident Fund Commissioner K K Jalan.
EPFO had approached the finance ministry for help, which advised it to go through the legal procedure.
At present, the EPF subscribers are exempted from paying income tax on deposits.
Taking the first step towards launch of online PF transfer claim facilities, retirement fund body EPFO has unveiled the revised transfer claim form for the purpose.
Labour Ministry has notified new investment pattern for EPFO.
Some cases are pending for two years.
Retirement fund body EPFO on Monday is likely to retain 8.5 per cent interest on PF deposits for its over 5 crore subscribers in 2013-14.
The organisation can invest in bonds of private companies with dual 'AAA' rating, say new norms.
