EPFO's equity investment depends on performance: Bandaru Dattatreya

Says by the end of the current year, EPFO will invest up to Rs 5,000 crore

Retirement fund body EPFO would invest more funds in equity markets only if the performance of its investments in stocks is encouraging, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said here today.

"By the end of the current year, we will invest up to Rs 5,000 crore. I cannot say about next year. It depends on the performance and results (of the investment already made). If it is encouraging, we will invest more, but if it is not encouraging, then we will have to keep the cap," the Labour Minister told reporters here.

The Ministry had decided that the first investment-- Rs 5,000 crore, would be made through SBI Mutual Fund's two index-linked ETFs (Exchange Traded Fund) -- one to the BSE's Sensex and the other to NSE's Nifty.

Dattatreya had earlier said that EPFO subscribers would get more than the 8.75 per cent return they get now by way of annual interest of their money, and this would increase as the Fund increases its play in the market.

Replying to a query, he said that so far three instalments have been released to the Fund managers and would complete the total investment by the end of the fiscal.

The Index-based ETFs are universally considered among the safest investment avenues to help PF members accumulate robust retirement corpus over a long-term.