EPFO might raise ETF investment to 10%

Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), India’s retirement fund body, might be doubling its investment proportion in exchange traded funds (ETFs) to 10% its investment, a move which can shoot up friction with trade unions.

EPFO's finance audit and investment committee (FAIC) set up a panel that suggested doubling the proportion of its investment in ETFs so that it can do a meaningful contribution to the overall portfolio return of the EPFO, and a final decision could be taken in EPFO's central board of trustees (CBT) meeting today.

Also read: If you don’t claim your PF now, it could end up in government’s kitty

Till now, EPFO invested 5% of its investible deposits in ETFs even as labour unions opposed it, and now, as the investment is planned to be doubled, the unions are definitely not going to accept it silently.

Also read: Defer withdrawal for two years and get 8.16% extra benefit from EPFO

"As per the agenda, the labour ministry will update us on the EPFO's investment in equity as well as place before us the report of the expert group. However, unions will continue to oppose any such investment," DL Sachdev from All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), and a member of CBT told ET.

Image source