Reliance, ICICI to manage Rs 60,000 crore coal PF Fund

Reliance Capital Asset Management Company (RCAM) and ICICI Securities Primary Dealership have been selected to manage Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) provident fund corpus of coal industry workers, a government official has said.

The decision was taken by the board of trustees (BOT) of the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation (CMPFO) in its meeting, chaired by Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, who is the Chairman of BOT, in Kolkata on Thursday.

"Out of the four -- SBI, UTI, RCAM and ICICI Securities, RCAM and ICICI have been selected for management of about Rs 60,000 crore provident fund corpus of the coal industry workers," the official said.

Both RCAM and ICICI have emerged as the lowest bidders in the financial bids. Earlier the four managers had qualified for the financial bid after clearing the technical round.

A member of the trustees said there are about 4.5 lakh members of the CMPFO and the corpus fund would further increase from about Rs 60,000 crore as about 62,000 contract coal workers have been added to the fold.

The BOT, he said, also took a decision to transfer the pension amount to the accounts of the widows of the pensioners on submission of death certificates.

A parliamentary panel has expressed its reservations about CMPFO not parking the funds in "an appropriate manner" and even suggested refering the matter to a central investigating agency.

An autonomous organisation governed by the Board of Trustees, CMPFO functions under the Ministry of Coal and administers the Coal Mines Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provision Act, 1948, and various schemes framed under that.