Religious institutions and charitable trusts employing 20 workers or more will have to deposit employees' provident fund with the EPFO.
The bill to amend payment of gratuity Act in order to double the ceiling of tax-free gratuity to Rs 20 lakh, would soon be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval.
EPFO has a subscriber base of around 6 crore (Rs 60 million).
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation on Wednesday categorically ruled out differential rates for its 3 crore subscribers.
The move can help mop up about Rs 1.2 lakh every day for the purpose.
As of now, foreign employees applying for withdrawal of provident funds are required to open bank accounts in India.
It's high time we now turn the popular question on its head -- when there is no growth in jobs for several years, how can the real GDP grow at 7 per cent per annum, says Mahesh Vyas.
The organised sector workers covered under private PF trusts, which manage their employees' retirement fund themselves, will be able to transfer their PF accounts online from July this year.
LIC, EPFO and PSBs are likely to be asked to subscribe to bonds.
The filing of online provident fund accounts transfer claims on changing jobs for subscribers of the retirement fund body EPFO has become a reality now.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's apex decision making body, the Central Board of Trustees, had decided to provide 8.65 per cent rate of interest on EPF deposits last December.
The online application of such claims would enable EPFO to eventually settle those within three days.
Almost 2,000 companies whose private provident and pension funds have invested in non-convertible debentures of IL&FS group firms are staring at the prospect of booking losses to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore or more if the interest income is added.
Ushering in a big wave of reforms by implementing the four labour codes, setting up the national social security fund to cover over 38 crore informal sector workers and improving the ease of doing business will top the agenda of the labour ministry in the New Year. In a major move, the ministry launched the e-Shram portal on August 26, 2021 for creating a national database of over 38 crore informal sector workers. It will help the government to ensure last-mile delivery of benefits of various social security schemes to the informal-sector workers.
The government has approved payment of 8.75 per cent rate of interest on PF deposits in 2013-14 for over five crore subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO.
The EPFO pays rate of return to its subscribers on the basis of returns it generates from its investments.
This facility will be available to all those subscribers whose Universal Account Number (UAN) is activated and seeded with the KYC details like bank account and Aadhaar number.
The key assets put on the block include its entire stake in Reliance General Insurance Company, the third-largest private sector insurer, and a 49 per cent stake in Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, a joint venture with Nippon Life, which is among the top five private-sector insurance companies.
There will be tripartite pact with member, bank/housing agency and EPFO.
The Prime Minister's Office has decided to set up a panel, led by former chief statistician T C A Anant, to deliberate on whether the enterprise-level quarterly data, which is released by the labour bureau, should be discontinued.
The new form does not require attestation by employer and can be submitted directly to the concerned EPFO offices
The UPA government's decision to ensure a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 a month under the retirement fund body EPFO's scheme, which will immediately benefit 28 lakh pensioners, is going to be a reality soon.
As per the EPFO income projections, retaining 8.8 per cent rate of interest for the current fiscal would have left a deficit of Rs 383 crore. Hence, it was lowered to 8.65 per cent
'How is the scheme running despite running such massive deficits?' 'This is because the number of new members are much more than earlier members who are drawing pension.' 'If this was done by a private organisation, it would have been called a Ponzi scheme in which the contribution by new members is being used to pay off old members,' says Harsh Roongta.
ASK Wealth Advisors says 5 million, CMIE's estimate is 2 million and Ghosh & Ghosh said it was 7 million!
The decision to suspend this benefit will hit 32 lakh pensioners.
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation will be seeking approval from its apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees, to implement a finance ministry order to invest up to 15 percent of the fund in equity. The new pattern that was notified last year comes into force from April 2010.
Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation's apex decision making body, the Central Board of Trustee on February 25 had decided to pay 8.5 per cent rate of interest to subscribers for 2012-13.
The rest 25% would be paid to the subscriber at the age of 58.
While looking to give a boost to the mutual fund sector with some contribution from about Rs 5.5 lakh crore (Rs 5.5 trillion) corpus being managed by Employee Provident Fund Organisation, Sebi feels that age restrictions would safeguard investors from 'unnecessary risks' during years closer to their retirement.
'The rate of interest from the EPF is still attractive compared to the rates on fixed deposits, National Savings Scheme, Public Provident Fund...'
Indicating a faster-than-expected recovery, remittances from migrant labourers and the number of first-time EPFO registrations have crossed the pre-lockdown levels in September, according to a report. Another silver lining is the massive 60 per cent increase in the number of Jan Dhan accounts to over 41 crore and the balances in them, which also indicate the fall in crimes during the lockdown months, SBI Research said in a report on Tuesday. After a significant reduction in remittances due to the lockdown in April, it improved in June and July, and the numbers in September have crossed the pre-pandemic level in February.
The EPFO, which has 50 million subscribers, provides annual interest of 8.75 per cent on provident fund deposits.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Tapan Kumar Sen (CPI-M) said the move is a 'retrograde step' and asked as to why interest rates on employees' lifetime savings are getting cut when RBI has increased interest rates.
There is an attempt to brush aside the results of all surveys that point to a deteriorating jobs situation. This is counter-productive, says Mahesh Vyas.
