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The government has ratified 8.25 per cent rate of interest on employees' provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2025-26, which is likely to be credited to over seven crore contributing members this month, a source said on Thursday. EPFO provides the rate of interest on EPF after it gets ratified by the government through the finance ministry. The source told PTI that the finance ministry has given its concurrence to 8.25 per cent rate of interest fixed by Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision making body of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Earlier on March 2, 2026, the CBT in a meeting chaired by the Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had decided to fix 8.25 per cent rate of interest for the financial year 2025-26, marking the third consecutive year this rate has been maintained. Thereafter the proposal was sent to the finance ministry for concurrence as the guarantor of the EPF is the Government of India. The source said that the finance ministry ha
Subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO will be able to withdraw their employees' provident fund (EPF) directly into their bank accounts through UPI payment gateway using its newly designed mobile application to be launched in April this year, a top source said. The labour ministry is working on a project where a certain proportion of the EPF will be frozen, and a large chunk will be available for withdrawal through their bank account using Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the source told PTI. The source further informed that the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation will roll out a new mobile phone application through which the member would be able to withdraw their EPF money using UPI gateway as well as avail other services like passbook balance. Currently, the member uses either the Universal Account Number (UAN) portal or the UMANG app to access their EPF accounts and avail of their services. The source said that these services will remain available on both platforms, while t
An officers' union of the retirement fund body EPFO has sought withdrawal of a provision which enables the appointment of officers on deputation in a newly-constituted panel set up for cadre restructuring. The EPF Officers' Association (EPFOA) has written a letter to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, Ramesh Krishnamurthi, seeking the removal of the deputation clause from the terms of reference (TOR) of the cadre restructuring (CR) committee constituted by the EPFO on November 25. The letter said that earlier the EPFOA had challenged the practice of appointing officers on deputation and had got a favourable judgement from the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in 2007. Another case has also been filed by EPFOA against such improper appointment, and it is currently pending before the Punjab & Haryana High Court, it said. Despite this, whenever there is talk of cadre restructuring (CR) in EPFO, the issue of deputation is .