(LiveMint)
Retirement fund body Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is expected to keep interest rate unchanged at 8.65% on provident funds for its about 5 crore members for 2017-18 at its trustees’ meet on 21 February 2018, people in the know said.
EPFO has already sold exchange traded funds (ETF) worth Rs2,886 crore earlier in February to bridge the gap to maintain 8.65% for this fiscal, they said. The EPFO had announced 8.65% rate of interest on deposits for 2016-17, a tad lower than 8.8% in 2015- 16.
It has earned a return of around 16% at Rs1,054 crore which would be sufficient to provide 8.65% rate of interest this fiscal, people aware of the matter said. The income projections for the current fiscal have not been circulated along the agenda to the trustees and it would be tabled during the meeting, they said, adding the decision to sell the ETFs was taken after factoring in the income projections for the current fiscal by the EPFO.
