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.
The government has brought in changes to the investment pattern for non-government provident funds, and superannuation and gratuity funds, enabling them to invest up to 5 per cent in the units of Category I and Category II alternative investment funds (AIFs), subject to some caveats. The development is part of the central government's strategy to channelise domestic savings and improve their returns to attract more investment in the said sectors. At present, these funds typically invest a minimum 45 per cent in government securities, besides new instruments, such as exchange-traded funds and real estate investment funds, while a portion in equity-related instruments.
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.
The ruling party MLA from Vijayanagara suggested that the election guarantees have made it difficult to provide houses to the poor in the state.
The government on Thursday ruled out any cut in interest rates on Employees' Provident Fund this fiscal from the present 9.5 per cent, but said it would be reviewed only next fiscal based on the surplus position, Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma
Trump further pointed out India's strong economic position and high tariffs on US goods, stating, "They got a lot of money. They're one of the highest taxing countries in the world in terms of us. We can hardly get in there because their tariffs are so high."
Those willing to take a higher risk for higher returns can look at AAA-rated non-convertible debentures from reputed issuers.
According to the EPFO estimates, there would be a surplus of Rs 151.67 crore after providing 8.65 per cent rate of interest for 2018-19 on EPF.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded the Union Budget as a "people's budget" that fulfills the dreams of every Indian and said that it is a "force-multiplier" that will boost consumption, investment and growth. He highlighted a host of measures for different sectors, including welfare initiatives for gig workers, tax relief for the middle class, and support for the manufacturing sector.
Over 50 million subscribers of the retirement fund body EPFO can obtain e-passbook along with details of their updated accounts online from Wednesday.
Retirement fund body EPFO may lower the interest rate on deposits to 8.6 per cent for over 4.7 crore (47 million) subscribers for 2011-12 to match it with the rate of public provident fund (PPF) scheme.
Last week, the Ministry of Labour and Employment suspended the second in command in EPFO's Hyderabad office.
Leading private financial players HSBC and ICICI Prudential along with country's largest bank SBI have been shortlisted to manage about Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) in provident fund of about four crore employees annually.
Briefing reporters about the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said 81 crore poorest will be provided 5 kg free foodgrains per person for five more months and one kg pulses per month.
The Sebi board on Wednesday approved a series of measures, including stricter regulatory norms for SME IPOs, a comprehensive overhaul of investment banking regulations, and an expanded definition of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI). Also, the board approved reforms to boost ease of doing business for Debenture Trustees, ESG rating providers, InvITs, REITs, and SM REITs.
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The government has deferred the decision on fixing the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) rate of interest for the current fiscal till the next meeting of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation.
Under the new provision, an EPF subscriber being a member of a co-operative or housing society with at least 10 members can withdraw up to 90 per cent from the fund for purchase of a dwelling house or flat or construction of a dwelling house and acquisition of site.
The Labour Ministry has relaxed investment norms for retirement fund manager EPFO, but refrained from allowing the body to invest a part of its huge corpus of around Rs 5 lakh crore in equity markets.
EPFO had started allotting UAN numbers in July 2014.
The four labour codes will not come into effect from April 1 as states are yet to finalise the relevant rules, which means that there will be no change in take home pay of employees and provident fund liability of companies for now. Once the wages code comes into force, there will be significant changes in the way basic pay and provident fund of employees are calculated. The labour ministry had envisaged implementing the four codes on industrial relations, wages, social security and occupational health safety & working conditions from April 1, 2021. The ministry had even finalised the rules under the four codes.
The EPFO has about 5 crore (50 million) subscribers and the decision will have a bearing on their retirement fund.
The EPFO has about 3.7 crore (37 million) members.
With 7 per cent economic growth, India is not creating enough jobs as reflected by the number of applicants for vacant posts in some states, Reserve Bank's former governor Raghuram Rajan said and suggested the government needs to focus on promoting labour-intensive industries to generate employment. Rajan further said some Indians, especially those at upper level, are comfortable and have high incomes, but consumption growth from the lower half of the country has still not recovered to pre-pandemic level.
It wants PF to be calculated on all other allowances made by employer under sundry heads.
Over five crore provident fund subscribers governed by the EPFO will get 8.75 per cent interest on their deposits for the current fiscal.
There will be no retrenchment in Satyam, up to 10,000 employees to be put into virtual pool, Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar said.
The self-employed should invest in the National Pension System, a government-backed, low-cost retirement avenue where they can choose the mix of debt and equity that is right for them.
'Binary fission will happen -- startups will lead to more startups.'
Proposal to raise the rate from 8.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent had come from the Central Board of Trustees of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation.
The failure of the government to decide on the interest rate for provident fund is likely to hit around two million subscribers.
The argument put forth is that withdrawals from a long-term investment avenue leave investors with a lower corpus on retirement.
Steps like depositing the entire PPF amount before April 5 or preparing a household budget will ensure this financial year goes well.
The Union labour ministry has said that it can invest part of the Rs 5 lakh crore (Rs 5 trillion) provident fund corpus in the stock market provided the finance ministry guarantees safety of the workers' money.
PF is a long-term investment tool for funding your retirement. It should not be used as a short-term funding source each time you shift jobs. You lose out on the power of compounding to build the corpus.
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