Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya announced here today that insurance benefits under Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme have been increased from Rs 3.6 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.
"In a major decision, the CBT has increased the benefit under the EDLI scheme to Rs 6 lakh from Rs 3.6 lakh. This will benefit four crore EPF contributing members. Last year the approximate amount paid to about Rs 30,000 beneficiaries was of Rs 180 crore," Bandaru Dattatreya, who heads the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) told reporters in a briefing, after a CBT meeting.
The CBT also decided to abolish the condition of continuous employment of 12 months under the current employer for employees to be eligible for insurance benefits.
The minister said that the CBT discussed the issue of bringing all construction workers under the EPF scheme and allotting them a Universal Account Number (UAN).
Replying to a query, Central Provident Fund Commissioner K K Jalan said that the EPFO has invested Rs 400 crore in two index-linked stock exchange traded funds, one of which is linked to the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex and the other to National Stock Exchange's Nifty.
"We invest during the second half of every month. 75 per cent of our investment is in NSE Nifty and 25 per cent will be in BSE. We invest in exchange funds. We have invested around Rs 400 crore so far. The CBT discussed the issued today. We have asked the finance, investment and audit committee to review equity participation every month. There is a committee of officers to look into day-to-day investment in exchange traded funds," Jalan said.
The official said the EPFO is expected to invest upto Rs 5,000 crore in exchange traded funds by the end of the current fiscal.
