EPFO likely to announce interest rates on provident fund deposits for FY 2020-21 today

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is expected to announce the interest rates on provident fund (PF) deposits for the financial year 2020-21 on Thursday. The central board of trustees will meet in Srinagar and reports say the EPFO could lower the rates for FY 20-21 following the economic downturn throughout the last year due to novel coronavirus. In March 2020, the retirement body had reduced the interest rate on PF deposits to 8.5 percent for the financial year 2019-20, the lowest in the past seven years. For FY 18-19, it was 8.65 percent and 8.55 percent in 2017-18. A year before that, it stood at 8.65 percent, reported Live Mint. KE Raghunathan, an EPFO trustee, had earlier said that the central board of trustees had sent him an intimation about the meeting and the agenda papers were likely to be sent soon. Earlier the EPFO board of trustees said it would pay 8.5 percent interest for the year ended 31 March. It will be paid in two instalments - 8.15 percent from debt investments and 0.35 percent from equity, according to a report in Hindustan Times. New EPFO enrolments have grown to 12.54 lakh in December 2020, a staggering 24 percent rise when compared to the same month for the year 2019, says the payroll data released on Saturday. In a statement, the labour ministry said the EPFO data shows a positive trend for net subscriber base growth. The retirement body added around 53.7 lakh subscribers in the first nine months of the current financial year, the data revealed. In her budget speech last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that starting 1 April, the interest on employees’ contribution to PF of over Rs 2.5 lakh per annum would be taxed.