EPFO may give 8.6% interest in 2012-13

Over 50 million subscribers of the retirement fund body EPFO may get 8.6 per cent return on their investment during 2012-13, higher than 8.25 per cent provided in the last fiscal.

"The EPFO has worked out 8.6 per cent rate of return for the current fiscal. Payment of 8.6 per cent interest will not result in any deficit to the organisation," sources said.

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation had paid 9.5 per cent interest in 2010-11, before scaling it down to 8.25 per cent in 2011-12 fiscal.

The organisation, sources said, could even pay higher interest of about 9 per cent by appropriating returns on Rs 22,000 crore (Rs 220 billion)

corpus lying in inoperative accounts.

The inoperative accounts are those accounts wherein the contribution has not been received for 36 months. EPFO had last year decided not to credit interest earned from the inoperative accounts.

Under ordinary circumstances the EPFO is expected to announce interest rate at the beginning of the year.

In view of the delay in announcement of interest rate for the current fiscal, the trade unions have been pressing for an early meeting of the Central Board of Trustees, the highest decision making body of the EPFO, to decide on the interest rate for the current fiscal.