Every month your salary slip features a deduction towards your Provident Fund (also known as Employees Provident Fund or EPF in short). How often have you wondered if such a contribution is actually beneficial to you and if it is actually needed? What if you quit or switch over jobs? Here's explaining the benefits EPF carries and why one should pay attention to this contribution.
Did you know that your EPF contribution also goes towards insuring you, giving you and your spouse a pension apart from giving you a lump sum amount after retirement?
Ask rediffGURU Reetika Sharma your insurance mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to maintain the interest rate on employees' provident fund (EPF) deposits at 8.25 per cent for the fiscal year 2025-26, marking the second consecutive year at this rate.
EPF has traditionally been the only tool for Indians, especially the salaried class, to save for their retirement corpus.
Passive funds have resumed gaining ground in the mutual fund (MF) industry after a slowdown in 2024, with their share of assets under management (AUM) reaching an all-time high in 2025. The surge has been driven largely by robust inflows into gold and silver exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
'The tragedy underscored 'serious and widespread' weaknesses in the EPFO's monitoring system and its ability to detect and act against defaulting establishments.'
The most common mistake is investing without assessing suitability and long-term implications.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) apex decision-making body, Central Board of Trustees, decided to fix 8.5 per cent rate of interest for 2020-21 at its meeting in Srinagar on Thursday, sources said.
Retirement fund body EPFO has extended the deadline for filing EPF return or ECR (electronic challan-cum-return) by one week for the wage month of September till October 22, 2025. The employers are mandated to file the ECR by the 15th of every month.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha terminated the services of five more government employees for suspected terror links, bringing the total number of employees sacked since 2020 to 85.
A 10-part series that explains all you want to know about how India's EPF turns a slice of your monthly salary into long-term savings, pension, and life insurance.
'These changes are expected to eliminate many data-entry problems that make the return filing process cumbersome in the current system.'
The AITUC has suggested utilisation of the entire corpus for creation of the infrastructure development fund. Do you agree?
The over 3.2 crore subscribers to the provident fund may get a lower 9 per cent interest from April instead of the prevailing rate of 9.5 per cent.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Thursday called for sharper disclosures in IPO (initial public offering) offer documents, particularly around risk factors, valuation rationale, objects of the issue, and utilisation of proceeds.
Ask rediffGURU Reetika Sharma your insurance, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
EPF doesn't just build your retirement fund -- it also provides free life insurance up to Rs 7 lakh under the EDLI scheme.
A record amount of pension money may be finding its way into the stock market, if buying figures in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) data are any indication. Category inflows touched Rs 37,409 crore for the three months ending September 2025, shows an analysis of NSE data.
'The day that the market realises that they've overspent (on AI) and there's a sudden collapse in the capex, then India can start outperforming again.'
Who pays what into EPF, EPS, and EDLI -- the 12% math explained.
The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has cleared a series of regulatory relaxations to ease operations for fund managers in GIFT City, along with a revamped framework for global in-house centres (GICs) and capital market intermediaries.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Friday decided to give 8.5 per cent interest on provident fund deposits of 4.5 crore (45 million) subscribers.
India's market regulator is moving ahead to include real estate investment trusts (Reits) in benchmark indices in a phased manner, Sebi chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey said, while asserting that the regulator was working to strengthen the link between infrastructure building and the markets.
IDFC First Bank reported a Rs 590 crore fraud involving its employees and others in accounts held by the Haryana government. The bank has informed regulators and filed a police complaint, initiating internal reviews and forensic audits.
The case was registered on the complaint of Pratap Singh, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, EPFO.
A Delhi court has dismissed the bail plea of an alleged kingpin in an over Rs 8.94 crore bank fraud case, citing the gravity of the offence and its systematic execution through layered transactions.
'They (government) are trying to create market for pension products'.
The 100 per cent withdrawal provision and the 25 per cent minimum balance provision have led to some confusion.
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.
By transferring your PF account and eschewing withdrawals every time you shift jobs, you can add more to your retirement funds
There has been demand to hike the PF interest rate to 8.90 per cent.
While govt has decided to maintain status quo, don't use the money for house, marriage or education
Your provident fund statement reveals the progress of your retirement savings
Investors and startup executives are calling for extending the period for an entity to be recognised as a startup from 10 to 15 years for deep-tech companies.
A blast at an explosives manufacturing factory in Nagpur, Maharashtra, resulted in the death of 17 people and injuries to 18 others. Rescue operations are underway.
Otherwise, EPFO can freeze your account. But seek detailed calculation to verify the numbers
This Budget positions India's taxation ideology as not merely a revenue source but as a strategic catalyst for growth, inclusion and long-term confidence.
With the new facility, settling PF withdrawal claims would just take few hours.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances