Podcast: New PF norms show govt is still unclear about retirement schemes

The NDA government has done one more U-turn on provident fund norms. On Monday, the labour ministry said withdrawal from the PF can be allowed for fund usage in housing, major medical treatment for self and family members, medical, dental and engineering education of children, and for their marriage. [caption id=“attachment_2737286” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Harsh Roongta. Firstpost[/caption] The account holders/ employees were earlier restricted from withdrawing their entire PF balance until the age of 58. Earlier this month, the EPFO had deferred until 30 April implementation of new norms that restrict withdrawal of the corpus once the subscriber remain unemployed for more than two months. The latest development has come after a slew of flip-flops by the government, that has given rise to discontent among the middle-class. At the outset, the latest relaxation seems to be an attempt to set its record straight. But, is it really a move which will help the investor? Harsh Roongta, a Certified Financial Planner, doesn’t think so. “I don’t think the government has though through how the entire retirement fund issue should be handled,” he says. Listen to Firstpost’s interview with Roongta below: