New Delhi [India], June 20 (ANI): The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) added 17.08 lakh net subscribers in April, as per the payroll data released by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on Monday.

New Delhi [India], April 27 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested an Enforcement Inspector, EPFO, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 3 lakh from a complainant.

New Delhi Mar 21 PTI Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday asserted that the proposed 81 per cent interest rate on employees provident fund is better than interest rates offered by other small savings schemes and the revision is dictated by the realties of the current times The EPFOs central board takes a call on interest rate on provident fund deposits and it is the board that has proposed cutting PF rate to 81 per cent for FY2021-22 she said in her reply to a discussion on Appropriation Bills in the Rajya Sabha EPFO has a central board which is the one which takes the call on what rate has to be given for them and they have not changed it for quite some timethey have changed it now to 81 per cent she said It is a decision taken by the EPFO Central Board which has a wide spectrum of representatives in it The EPFO has taken a call to keep the rate at 81 per cent whereas rates offered by other schemes including Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana 76 per cent Senior Citizen saving scheme 74 per cent and PPF 71 per cent are much lower The fact remains these are rates which are prevailing today and it EPFO interest rate is still higher than the rest the finance minister said adding that EPFOs rates had remained unchanged for 40 years and the revision now reflected todays realities The EPFO has proposed cutting down the interest rate on provident fund deposits from 85 per cent in 2020-21 to 81 per cent for 2021-22 Sitharaman also referred to the pre-IPO valuation of LIC and said that the embedded value of the insurance behemoth was calculated in an extremely scientific way and has been disclosed in draft IPO papers filed with SEBI On excess spending approval being sought she said that the government has borne higher cost of urea and not passed it on to farmers She mentioned that the devolution of state share in central taxes is projected at Rs 817 lakh crore in FY2022-23 and the revised estimate of Rs 745 lakh crore for FY2021-22 has already been already released She further said that Rs 5000 crore is proposed for recapitalisation of state insurance companies in the third batch of supplementary demands for grants The minister also stated that for 10 years nil defence procurement happened under the UPA rule and from pin to aircraft had to be ordered PTI MBI MR

New Delhi Mar 21 PTI Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday defended a proposal to cut interest rate paid on employees provident fund deposits to over four-decade low of 81 per cent saying the rate is dictated by todays realities where interest rate on other small saving instruments was even lower Replying to a debate in the Rajya Sabha on the supplementary spending for the current fiscal she said the decision to lower interest rate was taken by the central board of the provident fund managing body EPFO which has representatives of all stakeholders including employees unions Her ministry is the nodal authority for approving the recommendation of the Central Board of Trustees of Employees Provident Fund Organization EPFO EPFO has a central board which is the one which takes the call on what rate has to be givenand they have not changed it for quite some time They have changed it nowto 81 per cent the Finance Minister said The minister further said that it is a decision taken by the EPFO Central Board which has a wide spectrum of representatives in it The rate was 85 per cent for 2020-21 The EPFO earlier this month decided to lower the interest rate to a four-decade low of 81 per cent for 2021-22 Sitharaman cited the comparative prevailing interest rates of other schemes saying Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana offers 76 per cent Senior Citizen saving scheme 74 per cent and PPF 71 per cent while SBIs 5-10 year fixed deposits attract 550 per cent interest rates With all this the EPFO has taken a call to give 81 per cent interest rate she said She added that for 40 years the EPFO rates have not been brought down Yes 40 years There are todays realities which do keep us in the context of decisions taken by the Central Board of EPFO It is yet to come to Finance Ministry for approval but the fact remains that these are the rates that are prevailing today and it EPFO is still higher than the rest of them she said Later the House returned a money bill moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman authorising the government for payment and appropriation of certain sums from the Consolidated Fund for the financial year 2021-22 The Upper House of Parliament also returned another Appropriation Bill for the expenditure done in the 2018-19 financial year Both the Appropriation Bills were passed by the Lok Sabha earlier Sitharaman referred to pre-IPO valuation of LIC and said that the embedded value of the insurance behemoth was calculated in an extremely scientific way and was disclosed in draft IPO papers filed with SEBI The eligible policy holders of LIC will have 10 per cent reservation and may get a discount on offer price she said On excess spending approval being sought she said that the government has borne higher cost of urea and not passed it on to farmers She mentioned that devolution of state share in central taxes is projected at Rs 817 lakh crore in FY23 and the revised estimate of Rs 745 lakh crore for FY22 has already been released She further said that Rs 5000 crore is proposed for recapitalisation of state insurance companies in third batch of supplementary demands for grants PTI MBI ANZ MR

New Delhi [India], March 14 (ANI): Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam on Monday has given a suspension of business notice under rule 267 to discuss the decision of slashing EPFO interest rate to 8.1 per cent from 8.5 per cent, a 43 year low.

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 13 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday slammed the Centre's decision to slash the interest rate on Employees' Provident Fund deposits to a 'four-decade low'.

New Delhi [India], March 12 (ANI): Communist Party of India (CPI) Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala Binoy Viswam on Saturday wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and urged her to reconsider the decision to slash the interest rate of EPFO from 8.5 per cent to 8.1 per cent.

New Delhi [India], March 9 (ANI): Union Labour Minister Bhupendra Yadav on Wednesday lauded EPFO and ESIC for clearing all claims of women, launching Women Empowerment Desks, and excellence awards on the International Women's Day, said a press release by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

New Delhi [India], January 31 (ANI): An analysis of the latest Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) data suggests a significant acceleration in formalisation of the job market, driven by both new formal jobs and formalisation of existing jobs, during 2021, with 13.95 lakh net addition to EPF subscribers in November 2021.

New Delhi [India], January 17 (ANI): The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliated trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) will hold a nationwide protest on January 20 outside the offices of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) demanding the increase in pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month.