Employees' Provident Fund Organization increased the interest rate on Employees' Provident Fund to 8.15%

Tags: Economy/Finance National News

Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has fixed the interest rate on Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) deposits at 8.15% for the financial year 2022-23, which is higher than the previous year's interest rate of 8.10%.

An Overview of the News 

• Last year's interest rate of 8.10% The interest rate provided by EPFO for EPF deposits was the lowest in more than 40 years.

• EPFO has sought approval from the Finance Ministry for the new interest rate.

• The CBT will also review the annual accounts of EPFO along with the interest rate on EPF deposits for the financial year 2022-23.

• EPFO has given four months time to the subscribers of Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 to opt for higher pension as per the order of the Supreme Court.

• Members can opt for higher pension till May 3, 2023.

About Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO)

• It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Labor and Employment, responsible for operating provident funds, pension schemes and insurance schemes for the organised sector workforce in India.

• It manages a corpus of over Rs 17 lakh crore with over 6 crore clients.

• EPFO aims to provide social security benefits to workers in the organised sector and ensure their financial stability and well-being.

• Since its inception in 1951, the EPFO has expanded its ambit to include pension and insurance benefits, and in 2014, it launched the Universal Account Number (UAN) to ease EPF account management and ensure transparency. 

About Employees Provident Fund (EPF)

• It is a mandatory retirement savings scheme in India for employees with income below a certain salary limit.

• Both the employer and the employee contribute 12% of the employee's basic salary and dearness allowance to the EPF account every month.

• Employees can withdraw their EPF balance after a certain period or in case of certain contingencies, and EPF is an important component of an employee's retirement plan.