EPFO hikes EPF interest rate to 8.65pc for 2018-19 ahead of polls

Ahead of general elections, retirement fund body EPFO Thursday raised the interest rate on EPF to 8.65 per cent for 2018-19, the first increase in three years.

The interest on Employees Provident Fund (EPF) was hiked to 8.65 per cent for this fiscal from 8.55 per cent provided in 2017-18. The EPFO had earlier reduced the interest rate in 2016-17 to 8.65 per cent from 8.8 per cent in 2015-16.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees deferred a decision on doubling the minimum monthly pension to Rs 2,000 to its next meeting to be held in March.

"We have decided to provide 8.65 per cent rate of interest on employees' provident fund (EPF) for 2018-19. The decision was taken with the consent of all members (trustees)," Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said after the CBT meeting here.

Gangwar who also chaired the meeting said, "All members of the CBT at the meeting here agreed to give a higher interest for subscribers for the current fiscal. The proposal would now go to the Finance Ministry for approval. We will also convince them to provide this rate of interest."
Commenting on the minimum pension, Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) General Secretary Virjesh Upadhyay said, "There should be one minimum pension across all social security schemes run by government. Therefore, we have demanded for Rs 3,000 minimum monthly pension for the EPFO subscribers."
Asked about the EPFO investments in the crisis-hit Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), its Central Provident Fund Commission said, "We are watching over it. But we have received regular returns from these investment so far."