Will PF interest rate increase? EPFO board likely to make big announce tomorrow

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation is likely to announce the rate of interest on employees’ provident fund (EPF) deposits for 2022-23 at its two-day meeting on March 27 and 28, news agency PTI reported.

The EPFO decreased the interest rate on EPF for 2021-22 to 8.1 percent for its approximately 5 million subscribers, down from 8.5 percent in 2020-21 in March 2022, which was the lowest since 1977-78. 

“The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO’s) apex decision-making body Central Board of Trustees (CBT) is likely to decide the rate of interest on EPF for 2022-23 at its two-day meeting beginning on Monday afternoon,” PTI quoted a source as saying.

The trustees will also discuss the EPFO's response to the SC's order to grant a four-month window to choose a higher pension to Workers' Pension Scheme 1995 subscribers. The EPFO has already provided its subscribers with the choice of opting for a higher pension until May 3, 2023.

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The EPFO had set the interest rate of 8.1 per cent for 2021-22, which was the lowest in four decades and was significantly lower than the 8.5 per cent credited in the preceding year.

The CBT decision on the interest rate on EPF deposits for 2022-23 will go to the Ministry of Finance for concurrence. EPFO provides the rate of interest only after it is ratified by the government through the finance ministry.