EPFO Lowers Interest Rates On Provident Fund Deposits To 8.5 Per Cent For Financial Year 2019-20

Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar on Thursday (5 March) said the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which is the retirement fund body, has lowered the interest rate on provident fund deposits to 8.5 per cent for the current financial year 2019-20, reports Outlook.

The EPFO, which has around 6 crore subscribers, had provided 8.65 per cent rate of interest on EPF to its users for 2018-19. The decision to lower the interest for this fiscal was taken at a meeting of EPFO’s apex decision-making body -- the Central Board of Trustee.

However, the final concurrence must come from finance ministry. Since the government of India is the guarantor, the finance ministry has to vet the proposal for cutting the EPF interest rate to ensure there is no liability on account of shortfall in the EPFO income for a fiscal.

Also, the finance ministry wants the labour ministry to align the EPF interest rate with other small saving schemes such as public provident fund and post office saving schemes.

For the financial year 2013-14 and 2014-15, the EPFO had provided 8.75 per cent rate of interest to its subscribers. In 2015-16, the interest was 8.8 per cent, which fell to 8.5 per cent and 8.55 per cent in 2016-17 and 2017-18 respectively.