Coal PF to take fresh look at managers for Rs 70,000-cr corpus

Reliance Capital Asset Management Company and ICICI Securities Primary Dealership were selected but they are yet to get the final offer of letter

The Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation (CMPFO) is likely to have a fresh look at the selection of private fund managers for its Rs 70,000 crore corpus of pension money belonging to 4.5 lakh coal workers.

Reliance Capital Asset Management Company (RCAM) and ICICI Securities Primary Dealership were selected by the CMPFO's Board of Trustees (BOT) at a meeting held in Kolkata on June 25 to manage its corpus.

However, the two private sector fund managers are yet to get the final offer of letter to start managing the funds.

"We intend to give a relook into the selection whether to engage only private parties to manage the corpus fund. The Board of Trustees will re-examine the matter," CMPFO Commissioner Animesh Bharti told PTI.

Bharti said the CMPFO will take up the issue in the next meeting of the BoT and State Bank of India (SBI), which has been managing the fund so far, will continue to do so till that time.

"We have extended the tenure of SBI by another three months till October," Bharti said.

A parliamentary panel had earlier flagged the issue of the CMPFO not parking its funds in "an appropriate manner" and had even suggested referring the matter to a central investigating agency.

The two private fund managers were selected out of total four contenders which included SBI and UTI Mutual Fund.

Both RCAM and ICICI emerged as the lowest bidders in the financial bids. Earlier, the four managers had qualified for the financial bid after clearing the technical round.

A member of the Board of Trustees said there are about 4.5 lakh members of the CMPFO and the corpus fund is estimated at about Rs 70,000 crore and the corpus would increase further as more workers have been added into the fold.

The BOT in its meeting on June 25, Chaired by Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, had also taken a decision to transfer the pension amount to the accounts of the widows of the pensioners on submission of death certificates.

An autonomous organisation governed by the Board of Trustees, CMPFO functions under the Ministry of Coal and administers the Coal Mines Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1948, and various schemes framed under that.