In a move that provided relief to millions of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) account holders, Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said that the retirement fund body has credited interest for financial year 2024-2025 (FY25) in nearly all member accounts, completing the activity within less than two months after the rate of interest was approved by the finance ministry. Nearly 4,000 crore is credited into members' accounts as interest on their PF deposits.
"Annual account updation had to be done for 1.4 million establishments with nearly 335 million member accounts this year. By July 8, interest had been credited in 324 million member accounts. This translates into completion of annual accounts update for 99.9 per cent of the establishments and 96.51 per cent of member accounts,' the minister said.
The interest in the remaining accounts is expected to be credited this week, thus completing the process.
The move bucks the trend of previous years when crediting interest on provident fund deposits into members' accounts could drag on for months after the finance ministry's approval.
Even in FY24, the process of crediting interest into members' accounts began in August and was completed in December. "The interest crediting systems have now been optimised for faster processing, due to which the entire exercise is being completed so quickly,' the minister said.
For 2024-2025, the EPFO had announced an interest rate of 8.25 per cent on February 28. It was officially approved by the finance ministry on May 22. "Accordingly, preparatory activities were immediately undertaken and the annual accounts update began from the night of June 6," the minister said.
-- Shiva Rajora, Business Standard