Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the government body responsible for execution of provident fund services, is likely to consider next month a proposal to credit subscribers’ share of its Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) investments to their provident fund accounts which may be redeemed at the time of withdrawal.
For this purpose, EPFO’s apex decision making body the Central Board of Trustee (CBT) headed by Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar will meet in November. The proposal which was one of the agendas discussed in an earlier CBT meeting might be brought up during the next month meet. The issue was referred to Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). He added that the CAG had agreed to the proposal in principal but sought few clarifications.
As per estimates, EPFO’s investment in ETFs is expected to touch Rs 45,000 crore by the end of fiscal year 2018. EPFO had started investing in ETF in August 2015, putting 5 percent of its investible deposits in stock linked products. It was raised to 15 percent for the current fiscal. Once approved, the share of subscribers in the form of ETF units will be credited to their accounts.