No plans to invest GPF in stock mkt: FinMin

The Centre today said in the Lok Sabha that it does not intend to invest the provident fund of government employees, estimated at Rs 83,363 crore, in stock market.

Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said "no" to a written question whether the government proposed to invest a part of the General Provident Fund (GFP) corpus in the stock market.

"The accumulations in the GPF is kept in the Public Account of India. Hence, there is no compromise on the safety of the GPF accumulation," the Minister said, adding the total corpus as on March 31, 2009 was Rs 83,363 crore.

GPF maintains the pension fund of government employees, while Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) manages retirement fund of private and public sector enterprises.

"As regards to return of GPF accumulations of the central government employees, the interest rate (8 per cent per annum) was fixed to average secondary market yields on government securities of similar maturity," Meena said.

Of the total corpus as on March 31, 2009, the largest chunk of Rs 45,733 crore was from the civil head, followed by Rs 21,578 crore from defence sector and Rs 16,052 crore from railways.

Investment of PF money in stock market has been an issue of contention over past few years with partisan views both for and against such a step.