Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) Interest Rate Raised To 8.65% For 2018-19

Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) Interest Rate Raised To 8.65% For 2018-19

EPF interest rate for 2018-19: This rate of interest (8.65%) is 10 basis points higher than 8.55 per cent provided in 2017-18.

The Labour Ministry has notified 8.65 per cent interest rate on employees provident fund (EPF) for 2018-19. The interest amount will now be credited into the accounts of over 6 crore subscribers of retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), Union minister Santosh Gangwar said on Tuesday. In an EPF account, the employee contributes 12 per cent of the salary whereas an equal amount is contributed by the employer, according to the EPF website - epfindia.gov.in. The salary amount includes basic wages, dearness allowance and retaining allowance.

Here are 10 things to know about 

1. EPF interest rate announcement: "The Labour Ministry has notified 8.65 per cent rate of interest on employees' provident fund (EPF). 
2. This rate of interest is 10 basis points higher than 8.55 per cent provided in 2017-18," Mr Gangwar said. 
3. This rate of interest (8.65 per cent) was approved by the EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees on February 22, 2019. "We received concurrence of the Finance Ministry on September 19, 2019. 
4. Thereafter, Labour Ministry issued a notification for providing 8.65 per cent rate of interest for 2018-19," the minister said. 
5. The minister also informed that this decision would pave the way for crediting Rs. 54,000 crore as 8.65 per cent interest for 2018-19, into the accounts of more than 6 crore EPFO subscribers. 
6. The EPFO has been settling EPF withdrawal claims at 8.55 per cent interest rate, approved for 2017-18. Now, the EPFO will settle accounts at a higher rate of 8.65 per cent for 2018-19. 
7. Last month, retirement fund body EPFO approved a proposal to restore a provision for commutation, or advance part-withdrawal, withdrawn by the EPFO in 2009 under the Employees' Pension Scheme.
8. Under the EPF Scheme, a final PF claim is settled within 20 days. 
9. However, in the case of resignation, the member has to wait for a period of two months for withdrawal of the PF amount. Provident fund body EPFO also allows the subscriber to make a partial withdrawal from the corpus under certain conditions. 
10. A partial withdrawal claim is forwarded to the employer for approval. Once approved, the amount is credited to the subscriber's account within 10 days, according to the EPFO website.