In a double-dose bid to boost growth and employment prospects, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 2.07 trillion outlay for a research development and innovation (RDI) Scheme to fund private sector innovations, and an employment-linked incentive (ELI) to create over 35 million new jobs over the next two years.
From appointment letters becoming mandatory to gig workers receiving social security to enhanced rights for women and contract labour, the changes reflect India's attempt to balance ease of doing business with stronger worker welfare.
In a move aimed at curbing the mis-selling of financial products, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed banning incentives paid to bank staffers by third parties such as insurance companies and mutual fund houses for selling their products and services. It has also proposed that banks must ensure their user interfaces do not deploy "dark patterns" to lure customers.
The law firms will provide legal opinion on matters related to interpretation of various statutes, such as the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, among other things.
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Fund managers will be given more flexibility to invest in corporate bonds.
By June 2025, financial freedom will be just an ATM away. Pleasantly surprised? But there's more, says Ramalingam Kalirajan
Equity markets offer hugely better returns but since the risks are also real, a 'life-cycle' investment strategy offers a happy solution.\n\n
EPFO manages a huge corpus of over Rs 6 lakh crore (Rs 6 trillion).
'It will increase the contribution to gratuity, which is something the employer has to give.'
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) board has approved liberalised part withdrawals for subscribers, allowing up to 100 per cent EPF withdrawal, and rolled out the 'Vishwas Scheme' to reduce litigation through rationalised penal damages.
EPFO has verified or attested 64.67 lakh Aadhaar numbers.
Ussue will be raised at the meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation on Tuesday.
EPFO is also contemplating providing permanent or universal account number to it all active members by October this year.
The central government has agreed in-principle to Air India employees' main demands. It fears an industrial dissension now could impede the process of privatisation. It has agreed to bear the cost of liquidation loss on account of transfer to the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) from company-owned trusts, inclusion of employees in the central government health scheme (CGHS), and encashment of leaves. The template of the Air India process will be followed for other public sector undertakings up for privatisation at a later date.
India's biggest state-run pension fund, the Employees Provident Fund, will aim to keep interest rate returns high, Labour Minister Sahib Singh said on Friday, despite an overall easier monetary climate.\n\n
Usually, in the western view, corporate success is attributed to efficiency, organisational structure, and scale. R Gopalakrishnan and Harish Bhat argue that philosophy, culture, and the transmission of values are more important for sustaining growth and profitability of an enterprise over a period of time.
When star mutual fund managers quit their jobs to start their own ventures, they have often begun their new innings by becoming portfolio management service (PMS) providers. Over the years there has been an influx of fund managers - they could earn big if they succeeded on their own - and alongside there are wealthy clients looking for an edge beyond that offered by traditional mutual funds.
Prospects of a bumper kharif harvest are expected to lower food inflation in the coming months, making the country's inflation outlook benign, the Union Ministry of Finance (FinMin) said in its monthly economic report for October released on Monday.
Dwaipayan Bose highlights the similarities and contrasts between ETFs and Index Funds.
Mutual funds' equity buying remained elevated for the fifth consecutive month in December, taking the net equity purchase past Rs 1.7 trillion in 2023. The aggressive buying in December indicates that flows into equity funds are likely to have remained unaffected by the sharp run-up in the market last month. Mutual funds (MFs) bought equities worth Rs 23,000 crore last month (until December 28) compared to Rs 18,000 crore in November, shows data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
In 2019, out of the 1,440 minutes in a day, Indian youth spent 148 minutes on employment-related activities, which increased to 158 minutes in 2024.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Monday set May 3 as the deadline for subscribers to opt for a higher pension. The Supreme Court on November 4 allowed another change for employees who were existing EPS members as on September 1, 2014, to contribute up to 8.33 per cent of their actual salaries - as against 8.33 per cent of pensionable salary capped at Rs 15,000 a month - towards pension. The apex court gave a four-month window to enable opting for higher pensions.
The number of fresh formal jobs generated in a month increased to a seven-month high in April, signalling a recovery in the formal labour market in the country, according to the latest monthly payroll data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Thursday. In April, the number of new monthly subscribers under the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) sequentially increased by 18.77 per cent to 887,438 from 747,146 in March.
The interplay between domestic and foreign capital will shape India's equity markets.
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation is pressing State Bank of India, one of the four retirement fund managers, to comply with a clause that provides for a penalty for keeping money idle for over a day.
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.
The suggestion comes within days of reports that LIC and the Employee Provident Fund Organisation snapped up the entire Rs 7,400-crore (Rs 74-billion) bond issue of the debt-ridden Air India.
Buying and selling of exchange trade fund (ETF) units worth less than Rs 25 crore will now have to take place compulsorily on the stock exchange platform, according to a new rule which comes into effect on Tuesday. The fresh norm, which comes into being after two deferments, is aimed at boosting liquidity and reducing tracking error. At present, investors directly deal with the asset management companies (AMCs) for purchase and redemption of ETFs - passive schemes that track a particular benchmark such as the Nifty50 index.
The issue has a AAA rating from India Ratings, the domestic services of Fitch, reflecting the unconditional guarantee extended by the government.
Survey rejects EPFO as pension regulator
Fresh formal job creation declined sequentially for a third straight month in February to fall to a 21-month low, signaling pressure in the employment market. These are the findings from the latest payroll data released by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Thursday. The number of new monthly subscribers under the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) declined 10 per cent sequentially to 738,052 in February from 819,659 in January.
Employees Provident Fund Organisation is likely to issue permanent account numbers to employees.
Industrial Finance Corporation of India on Thursday said it has offered 9 per cent interest to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation and other retirement funds though it was much higher than the present market rate.
Retirement fund body EPFO added 16.26 lakh subscribers on a net basis in November 2022, which is 16.5 per cent higher compared to a year ago, the labour ministry said on Friday. The provisional payroll data of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) released on Friday by the ministry highlighted that the EPFO has added 16.26 lakh net members in the month of November 2022. The data indicate a 25.67 per cent increase in net additions compared to the previous month in October 2022, a labour ministry statement said.
The EPFO has about 3.7 crore (37 million) members.
The New Pension Scheme is one of the more ambitious programmes tried out by the government. If successful, it has the power to transform India's savings habits.
