Bengaluru, Dec 19 (IANS) The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation on Monday lowered the interest rate on deposits to 8.65 per cent for fiscal 2016-17 from 8.8 per cent in 2015-16, said a member of its apex board of trustees.
"The Central Board of Trustees has take a decision to reduce the interest rate on EPFO's deposits to 8.65 per cent as per the guidelines of the Comptroller Audit General (CAG), which objected to 8.8 per cent interest rate," CBT member and INTUC Vice President Ashok Singh told IANS after the meeting here.
Admitting that the trade union leaders and cadres were not happy with the board's decision to lower the interest rate on their savings, Singh said they would appeal to the Finance Ministry to retain the interest rate given in the last fiscal.
"We have conveyed to the board chairman (Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya) our unhappiness on lowering the interest rate by 0.15 per cent, which has been calculated on the basis of the CAG guidelines.
"The CAG has observed that interest earned on the retirement fund (EPF) cannot be considered as income to retain the interest rate on its deposits at 8.8 per cent," he said.
The retirement fund will recommend the lower interest rate to the finance ministry for notification soon.
The meeting was attended by all the trustee members, representing the employees, employers, state government and officials of the Labour and Finance Ministries.
