Singh asserted that Deshmukh set a staggering collection target of Rs 100 crore for his officers, specifically from Mumbai, while also discussing plans to target key opposition figures, including former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced an ambitious plan to develop the country's top 50 tourist destinations in a "challenge mode", with the aim of boosting employment-led growth and attracting international visitors. The Ministry of Tourism has received a significant budget increase for 2025-2026, with a focus on enhancing tourism infrastructure, promoting domestic and international travel, and ensuring the safety of tourists, particularly women. The government plans to promote homestays, improve connectivity to tourist spots, and provide performance-linked incentives to states that demonstrate effective destination management. The budget also includes investments in public enterprises, skill development programs, and initiatives to promote medical tourism and spiritual tourism.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, HMT and Maruti Udyog Ltd are among the corporates that defaulted in remitting their provident fund share to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation
The argument put forth is that withdrawals from a long-term investment avenue leave investors with a lower corpus on retirement.
There is widening gap between what the government's premier retirement fund makes on its investments and what it offers to employees. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) makes the bulk of its investments in government-related securities. In other words, it lends to central and state governments and related entities. The interest it gets from these instruments is largely what it uses to pay interest to its subscribers.
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Over 4.7 crore (47 million) employees are likely to get an interest of 8.5 per cent in 2010-11 on their provident fund deposits of about Rs 2.5 lakh crore (Rs 2.5 trillion), a return authorities have been giving for the past five years.
In view of allegations by trade unions that Employees Provident Fund Organisation was "fraught with corruption", the Labour Minstry has convened a Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting on December 14 to discuss the functioning of the EPFO.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says a higher interest rate on Employees Provident Fund would depend on whether the Employees Provident Fund Organisation could afford a higher payout.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation on Wednesday categorically ruled out differential rates for its 3 crore subscribers.
In his address after more than 75,000 people were given appointment letters for various government jobs in the first tranche, Modi acknowledged the challenges facing the economy the world over with many countries hit by a record inflation and unemployment and said India is making every effort to come out of the situation unscathed.
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation had paid 9.5 per cent interest in 2010-11, before scaling it down to 8.25 per cent in 2011-12 fiscal.
EPFO manages a corpus of about Rs 257,000 crore with subscribers' base of over 4.5 crore.
New India Assurance and Niva Bupa have invested in the Bima Sugam India Federation.
In a bid to earn higher return for its 40 million subscribers, the country's biggest provident fund EPFO is exploring the possibility of investing a small portion of its assets in equities.
Following the footsteps of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation has entrusted the UTI Investor Services with the job of creating the required infrastructure for issuing its much-bragged social security number.
The National Social Security Number will be issued to the 4 crore (40 million) members covered by the scheme on the lines of the Permanent Account Number (PAN) given by the income tax department.
Gross enrolments of new subscribers with ESIC were 1.49 crore during the entire financial year 2018-19, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said in a report.
Despite the labour ministry's claims that it is vigourosly chasing the employees provident fund defaulters, the money that employers owed to the fund mounted to Rs 1,758 crore till July, but EPFO might be able to realise only Rs 571 crore.
Since the imposition of lockdown on March 25 by the government to contain the COVID-19 spread, businesses have been facing liquidity or cash crunch, leading to difficulties in paying their mandatory provident fund dues.
Trump thanked the Government of Pakistan for "helping arrest this monster".
The Supreme Court on Monday said the trial of the Manipur ethnic violence cases, probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, would be conducted in Guwahati, Assam, where it was transferred to earlier.
Amidst reports of a cut in interest rate on Employees Provident Fund, Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola on Thursday said he will meet Finance Minister P Chidambaram to decide on the returns for the over 32 million subscribers for this year.
Last month, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation had brought down the rate of interest to 8.25 per cent for 2011-12 from 9.5 per cent provided in 2010-11, evoking sharp criticism within and outside Parliament.
'The country is a good test bed for enterprise adoption, but to scale rapidly, companies will need to look outside the country for customers.'
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.
PFRDA will invite bids to appoint pension fund managers.
The Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma said on Friday that he would soon make public the names and other details of the major provident fund defaulters.
A decision on the interest rate for close to 60 million active subscribers of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is likely to be taken in the next Central Board of Trustee (CBT) meeting, starting on March 25. A letter from the social security organisation regarding the convening of the 233rd CBT meeting was sent to all the board members last week, soliciting their presence in the meeting. Although the venue and the agenda haven't been drawn out yet, sources familiar with the matter say that the interest rate is unlikely to go below 8 per cent level amid a rising interest rate scenario across the globe.
Over 10 lakh workers who quit or lost jobs so far this fiscal got a major relief on Monday with the government taking a decision to pay 8.5 per cent interest on employees provident fund.
"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.
'It is imprudent on the part of Indian insurance companies to invest out of the shareholders' fund in a private limited company.'
Under its new chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has gravitated towards greater transparency and ease of doing business, setting an objective of "effective and optimum" regulation. On Monday, during its first board meeting under Pandey, the regulator has decided to constitute a high-level committee (HLC) to review conflicts of interest and unveiled initiatives to simplify regulatory processes.
Six firms have qualified for managing EPFO funds.
The move comes after United States President Donald Trump accused Islamabad of giving nothing to the US but "lies and deceit" and providing "safe haven" to terrorists.
