Labour ministry does not plan to adopt finance ministry?s suggestion it invest part of its Rs 3 trillion provident fund corpus in equities, minister of state for labour and employment Harsh Rawat said on Friday.
The labour ministry, however, will place finance ministry?s suggestion?on investing up to 15% of its corpus in equities?before the Central Board of Trustees, the decision-making arm of Employees? Provident Fund Organisation. The board?s decision will be final.
The board meeting was scheduled for Sep 10 but may be deferred to a later date in the month due to Eid festival. ?As of now, there is no plan to invest provident fund money in equity market. Also, any such decision will be taken by CBT, which will weigh options considering better returns and more security to the fund of employees,? Rawat told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce. The minister confirmed that finance ministry had suggested a pattern of investment in the share market but it is not binding on the labour ministry.
He said the labour ministry?s current portfolio pattern is giving better returns than the one suggested by finance ministry. ?For us, security of fund is paramount,? Rawat said. He also said it is difficult to ?pre-empt? the board?s decision on the interest rate for provident fund.
