The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Thursday slashed the interest rate on provident fund deposits to 8.50% for FY20 (2019-20) from an earlier 8.65% in FY19 (2018-19).
‘The EPFO has decided to provide 8.5 per cent interest rate on EPF deposits for 2019-20 in the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) meeting today,’ Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said on Thursday, March 5.
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by the EPFO central board of trustees which comprises representatives of employees, employers and governments both from the centre and states.
This move is expected to affect as many as 6 crore salaried people.
The labour ministry needs the finance ministry’s concurrence to provide a rate of interest on EPF deposits in a fiscal year.
Since a very long time, the finance ministry has been nudging the labour ministry for aligning the EPF interest rate with small saving schemes run by the government like the public provident fund and post office saving schemes.
The EPFO had contributed 8.65 per cent rate of interest to its subscribers for 2016-17 and 8.55 per cent in 2017-18.
The rate of interest was somewhat higher at 8.8 per cent in 2015-16.
It had provided 8.75 per cent rate of interest in 2013-14 and 2014-15, higher than 8.5 per cent in 2012-13.
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