New Delhi: Ahead of a one-day protest called by labour unions against lowering of interest rate on EPF, Finance Ministry on April 27 defended its decision, saying last year's surplus would have to be used to pay even the lower 8.7 per cent rate on Employee Provident Fund for 2015-16.
Employee unions have called a nationwide protest on April 29, against the Finance Ministry's move to fix EPF interest rate at 8.7 per cent for 2015-16, lower than 8.8 per cent sought by Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and 8.75 paid for the previous fiscal. A Finance Ministry source said earnings of EPFO in 2015-16 is "not even sufficient to pay 8.7 per cent interest rate."
"There was a surplus of Rs 1,604.05 crore for 2014-15. At the proposed rate of 8.8 per cent, this surplus would be reduced to just Rs 673.85 crore in 2015-16. "Thus, the proposed rate of 8.8 per cent seeks to draw on surplus of last year. This would adversely hit maintenance of relatively stable returns to investors for the next year in a falling interest rate scenario," the source added.
Stating that earnings of EPFO in 2015-16 were not even sufficient to pay 8.7 per cent interest, the source said the ratified interest rate of 8.7 per cent would leave a surplus of around Rs 1,000 crore with EPFO for the year.
"This is still lower than the surplus of Rs 1,604.05 crore for 2014-15," he said. While the Labour Ministry is planning to seek a review of Finance Ministry decision, trade unions, including RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh have attacked the government for lowering of the rate. Explaining the process, the source said interest rate on EPF accumulations is administered by the Labour Ministry on the recommendations of Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of EPF.
"Ministry of Finance ratifies the rates on the basis of proposal from Labour Ministry, taking into account financial sustainability and ensuring stable returns to the investors," the source said. "Action of Ministry of Finance is based on pure arithmetic calculation and is in the interest of all the members of EPFO and sustainability."
