(F.P)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a meeting with Union Ministers in Parliament to discuss various issues and government strategy for the ongoing Budget Session, reported news agency ANI. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and Nitin Gadkari are attending the meeting with the Prime Minister.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday defended a proposal to cut interest rate paid on employees’ provident fund deposits to over four-decade low of 8.1 per cent, saying the rate is dictated by today’s realities where interest rate on other small saving instruments was even lower. Replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the supplementary spending for the current fiscal, she said the decision to lower interest rate was taken by the central board of the provident fund managing body, EPFO, which has representatives of all stakeholders, including employee unions. The minister further added that it is a decision taken by the EPFO Central Board which has a wide spectrum of representatives in it. The EPFO, earlier this month, decided to lower the interest rate to four decade low of 8.1 per cent for 2021-22. The rate was 8.5 per cent for 2020-21.
