Law ministry proposes 20-yr term for babus as part of governance reforms!
Next Generation of Reforms Pushed by the Global Zionist Satanic Brahaminical Hegemony, means sovereignty of Free Market. It means that Brahmin Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is all set to DIVERT Provident Fund to the Market!You may feel overjoyed to know that the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) today said account details would be available online from July 1. I am afraid, the Danger is too Hidden.Already, the service tax wing of the finance ministry has slapped a Rs 1,000-crore notice on Employees Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO ) on the grounds that the entity that manages PF and pension for 4.7 crore employees had hired the services of fund managers and is liable to pay tax. The move comes within weeks of the income tax department demanding Rs 7,000 crore for earnings from accrued interests. Just be AWARE as Investment in equity market is risky, says Samirendra Chatterjee, EPFO chief!Retirement fund body EPFO will appoint the multiple fund managers to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore by July 31, a month ahead of its latest deadline.
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Law ministry proposes 20-yr term for babus as part of governance reforms!
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2 JUL, 2011, 10.00AM IST,TNN
Employees' provident fund: Track your PF account with a click of mouse
NEW DELHI: An update of your Provident Fund (PF) account's balance is only a mouse click away. The Employees' Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO ) on Friday posted a link in its website , enabling members to get their PF account balance update as SMS alert on their cell phones.
Members only need to furnish their respective PF account numbers to avail this facility. EPFO had been conducting an internal trial of this software for the past two months.
"The idea is to make the system transparent. Now, an employee can regularly check, whether the amount, which is being deducted every month from h/his salary, is getting deposited with us. If s/he finds any discrepancy , the individual can take the matter up with the employer or us," said central provident fund commissioner S Chatterjee.
EPFO has also started online tracking of PF claims as part of the initiative to inculcate transparency . Account update details too are available online for each of the 120 EPFO offices in the country . The labour minister has set a target of December 2011 for all PF accounts to be updated.
The organization has also completed updating of the 4.72crore pending accounts for 2008-09 ahead of the September deadline . The finance ministry had set this timeframe while approving the 9.5% interest rate for 2010-11 year.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/savings-centre/savings-news/employees-provident-fund-track-your-pf-account-with-a-click-of-mouse/articleshow/9073557.cms
Next Generation of Reforms Pushed by the Global Zionist Satanic Brahaminical Hegemony, means sovereignty of Free Market. It means that Brahmin Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is all set to DIVERT Provident Fund to the Market!You may feel overjoyed to know that the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) today said account details would be available online from July 1. I am afraid, the Danger is too Hidden.Already, the service tax wing of the finance ministry has slapped a Rs 1,000-crore notice on Employees Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO ) on the grounds that the entity that manages PF and pension for 4.7 crore employees had hired the services of fund managers and is liable to pay tax. The move comes within weeks of the income tax department demanding Rs 7,000 crore for earnings from accrued interests. Just be AWARE as Investment in equity market is risky, says Samirendra Chatterjee, EPFO chief!
The law ministry has prepared a 10-point governance reforms agenda which envisages capping a bureaucrat's term to 20 years and seeks reforms in allocation of mining and land rights.
The presentation made to key UPA functionaries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi , says all new recruitments to central government jobs should be for 20 years and any extension beyond that would depend on the outcome of intense review, the law ministry has said in its presentation on governance reforms.
It has also suggested several transparent systems for exploitation of natural mineral resources which include a comprehensive survey of all mining blocks, allocation of mining leases through competitive process such as electronic auctions and imposition of export tax to discourage exports of raw minerals.
The government has been contemplating administrative reforms to improve governance in the country. There has been widespread criticism in recent year about the deterioration in governance and delivery of public services.
Regarding reforms of the bureaucracy the law ministry says that all public servants shall be subjected to two intensive reviews on completion of 14 years and 20 years of service. It calls for specific tenures to be fixed for each post to ensure objectivity, continuity and autonomy and to avoid arbitrary transfers.
To curb naxalism, the law ministry has suggested payment of reasonable monthly amount in cash to all below poverty line families in the affected areas. It says mineral processing areas should be set up in these areas and those who lose their land for setting up such units should be made stakeholders either through equity or employment or both.
"To improve the quality of life and also to mainstream them it is necessary that bulk of the proceeds from the exploitation of natural resources in the tribal areas should be utilized for their welfare," the ministry said in its presentation.
On urban land management, it calls for a ban on allotment by public agencies through discretionary quotas and has backed immediate survey and preparation of accurate urban property records.
It also suggests that the Real Estate Regulation Bill being proposed by the Urban Development Ministry should be expedited and all natural resources such as spectrum should be allotted by a competitive transparent process.
"Because of the pressures of rapid urbanization urban land has become a scarce and valuable commodity. This has encouraged speculation, black marketing and unauthorized land markets," the law ministry says.
"This has been facilitated by the inadequacies in our urban property records and weak and pliable town planning. This has created a class of land mafia, which has become a source of black money and political clout."
It says suggests the setting up of a district level ombudsman to ensure that rights of the citizens through the Right to Information Act, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Forest Right Act, Right to Education etc are protected and there is a redressal system at the grass-roots structure.
We have started the online account information facility on the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) website. To avail themselves of this facility, subscribers will have to go to the site and provide their account number and mobile number. ...
For over 47.2 million members of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the hassles associated with transfer of accounts and withdrawals, is expected to disappear soon. The EPFO is set to introduce the facility for online filing of ...
Beginning Friday (July 1, 2011), people with accounts in the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) could check their PF balance online. By using a simple process using EPFO's portal, people could get to know the balance. ...
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Retirement fund body EPFO will appoint the multiple fund managers to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore by July 31, a month ahead of its latest deadline.
"You can watch the account balance of your PF online from July 1," Assistant PF Commissioner Kanchan Roy said at an interactive session at Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"This indeed would be a great help to about 5 crore PF subscribers in India ," he said.
EPFO plans to replace PF account number with unique identification number, a move which will help in speedy transfer of a subscribers' funds in case of job change and allow them to track their accounts online.
The replacement of PF account number with the UID number will be done after inter-connecting all regional and sub offices of the EPFO by March, 2012.
Economic Times reported on last 26th May:
The two notices are being seen as retaliatory action from the finance ministry after an exchange of letters took place between labour secretary P C Chaturvedi and R Gopalan, who is now the economic affairs secretary. Gopalan , who was financial services secretary till the end of January, had questioned EPFO's assumptions on paying 9.5% interest during 2010-11 as also the decision to stay away from equity markets.
Chaturvedi had retorted with an equally strong letter and the labour ministry had prevailed upon the finance ministry in the war over rates. EPFO has already moved the appellate authority, arguing that it is not a financial institution but an entity that provides social security net. Besides, it has argued that despite using the services of fund managers, its corpus hardly generated any profit.
"The transactions undertaken by EPFO are not commercial in nature. All the effort and expenditure that they incur in managing the funds are paid in the form of interest to subscribers ," a labour ministry official said. It has taken a similar stand in its plea to the income tax appellate authority.
EPFO's argument: whatever its earnings are from the interests in invested funds are distributed to its subscribers at the end of the year. "PF earnings are interestfree . How can we be expected to pay income tax?" an official asked. Both matters are pending in appellate tribunals . However, if the notices are a oblique pointer to a labour and finance ministries' face-off , with an element of "settling score" thrown in for a good measure, it could linger for long. The EPFO may even have to move court.
The finance ministry took a long time to give its nod for the 9.5% interest rate. It had cited the Comptroller and Auditor General's objection about provident accounts not being up to date, and hence argued that EPFO's calculations were faulty. Members of EPFO's central board of trustees (CBT) had reacted sharply to the objection.
They had argued that the finance ministry had no right to quibble over interest rates since it didn't pick up the tab. CBT didn't invest in the capital market since there was no commitment to a guaranteed minimum rate of return.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personalfinance/savingscentre/savingsnews/EPFO-served-1000-crore-service-tax-notice/articleshow/8583234.cms
"Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will be able to wind up the process of appointment of fund managers by July 31," a Labour Ministry official said.
EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees , headed by Labour Minister, had decided to extend the timeline for appointment of fund managers to August 31, on Friday.
The official said, "EPFO engaged consultant firm CRISIL, for appointment of fund managers, will open the financial bids on July 8, and the process of shortlisting would not take more than a week."
Once shortlisting is done, the proposal would be placed before the CBT to take a final call. However, the next meeting of the trustees has not been scheduled so far.
The official said, "Since the Parliament's monsoon session would start on August 1, EPFO will try to appoint fund managers by July 31."
CRISIL has already started processing technical bids on June 24, and will not take more than 10 days to process bids, he added.
On June 6, giving reasonable time for submitting technical and financial bids, the EPFO had asked the 10 AMCs who had earlier evinced an interest in managing its funds to submit their bids by June 24.
EPFO had to appoint multiple AMCs by June 30, so that the newly appointed managers could take over its fund by July 1, for a three-year period, as desired by the CBT.
EPFO had also missed a deadline of March 31, this year, the day on which the term of four fund managers, including ICICI Pru, HSBC AMC, Reliance Capital and SBI expired. It had planned to appoint new fund managers for next three financial yeas beginning April 1.
Besides the four AMCs who had managed EPFO corpus, seven new firms, including Kotak Securities, Securities Trading Corporation of India, UTI Securities and ICICI Securities, have expressed interest in managing the retirement fund corpus.
The EPFO had appointed the multiple fund managers for the first time in July, 2008, with the objective of providing a better rate of return on deposits to its 4.72 crore subscribers.
Prior to this, SBI was the sole fund manager for it since its inception in 1952.
"Through downstream investment you (a foreign company) can come with 49 per cent and if you can go two-layers down, you can do even more," the official said.
22 JUN, 2011, 11.53AM IST, ABANTIKA GHOSH & SIDHARTHA,TNN
Investment in equity market is risky, says Samirendra Chatterjee, EPFO chief
NEW DELHI: Samirendra Chatterjee is one of the largest fund managers in the country and certainly the one who is most closely watched. After all, as the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, he is responsible for nearly five crore provident fund accounts and manages some Rs 3.5 lakh crore. Chatterjee spoke to TOI about the changes at EPFO, the interest rate scenario and why the entity is resisting investment in equities . Excerpts:
It is still very tough to deal with EPFO - you can't find how much money there is in your account and the paperwork is cumbersome. Is something being done?
We are trying very hard to make the services to members transparent. We have already put online the position of updation of member accounts office-wise on our website. Very soon individual accounts balance too will be available online. For employers too we have simplified the process of filing statements. We have given them a software tool to enable them to download the returns from their salary bills, and send it to us in CDs so that our offices can upload it. Transfer settlements have also been computerized and are being sent electronically . There are some teething troubles because of the training it entails. But things are changing. We are taking one step at a time to ensure that services are made efficient to members.
You have started a process of streamlining of inoperative accounts. How has the response been?
Every month we get about five lakh applications for withdrawal. There has been a 30-40 % increase in that figure , which I believe is because of the announcement that accounts that have been inoperative for three years or more will not be given interest beyond March 31, 2011. Though we will stop paying interests on these accounts, the capital will remain safe. So, even if someone from the family comes and makes a claim in future, with the required identity, we will make the payment.
How much money is lying like this?
The estimate is around Rs 15,000 crore spread across 2.5-3 crore accounts. Some accounts have huge accumulations . We will invest this money but there will be no interest payment on accounts that are inoperative for three years.
How much difference will it make to the interest rate for the current year?
It is difficult to estimate now since many will withdraw now, and others will consolidate their multiple accounts through transfers.
As for this year's interest rate, it is still too early to say. Nearly 85% of our funds are already invested and returns will not be higher just because interest rates have gone up now. It is only 10-15 % on which we can hope to earn a little more, given the higher rates that are on offer at present . So, on Rs 1.8 lakh crore our returns are booked, on the incremental Rs 30,000 crore we may gain a little but it will not make substantial difference to what we earned last year (8.5%).
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/Investment-in-equity-market-is-risky-says-Samirendra-Chatterjee-EPFO-chief/articleshow/8947313.cms
CAG looking into performance of EPFO's fund manager
Government auditor CAG is looking into the performance of the fund managers appointed by the EPFO to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore as part of the 5-year 'performance audit' of the retirement fund body.
CAG, according to sources, is also looking into the performance of the fund managers appointed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in managing the corpus.
The Performance Audit Report for 2005-10 is likely to be finalised by June-end and would be sent to the Labour Ministry for comments before being tabled in Parliament, sources said.
"The report is likely to be tabled in the monsoon session," said a source.
The scope of audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) would extend to overall financial management of EPFO as well as adequacy of internal controls and use of IT.
The audit would also look into the basis of declaration of interest rates by the EPFO and whether the subscriber accounts are being updated on a regular basis and claims are settled on time.
EPFO had appointed four fund managers-- ICICI, HSBC, Reliance Capital and SBI -- for the first time in July 2008, to provide a better rate of return on deposits to its 4.72 crore subscribers. Prior to that, SBI was the sole fund manager for it since its inception in 1952.
Sources said the CAG audit would look into the method adopted for selection of the fund managers and whether proper checks and balances were conducted prior to their appointment.
Last year, the EPFOs apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees (CBT) had announced that the PF fund manager would pay an interest rate of 9.5 per cent for 2010-11, citing a surplus of Rs 1,731.57 crore. The EPFO had been giving 8.5 per cent interest to PF subscribers since 2005-06.
However, CAG had cautioned that the accumulation in the interest suspense account (ISA) of the fund manager was due to "non-updation" of accounts of 4.72 crore members as on March, 2010. There are about 10 crore accounts with EPFO.
The EPFO currently follows a cash basis of accounting for calculating investments, while it calculates the interest liability on the basis of accruals.
CAG had said that EPFO should update all the member accounts, then "it shall determine its interest liability" so that the balance remaining thereafter can be declared as a surplus.
24 JUN, 2011, 08.08PM IST, AMITI SEN,ET BUREAU
Private PF trusts may have to hand over responsibility for investing funds to the EPFO
NEW DELHI: Companies managing provident fund accumulations of their employees in-house may soon have to hand over the entire corpus to employees' provident fund organisation, or EPFO, as government looks for ways to ensure retirement saving of workers are protected.
The Central Board of Trustees, the EPFO's top decision making body, has endorsed a proposal that trusts be allowed to only manage EPF accounts and not funds.
There are hundreds of organisations that turn sick and are not in a position to pay their workers' PF dues, labour secretary P C Chaturvedi said.
"The new provision would ensure that workers' money is safe in such cases," he said.
The labour ministry will prepare a Cabinet note for amending the EPF Act which will finally be placed before Parliament.
"As per the proposed amendment, exempted trusts will only manage PF accounts and every month deposit surplus funds that is left after settlement of claims with the EPFO," Chaturvedi said.
Under the current rules, companies meeting certain eligibility conditions are allowed to set up trusts to manage the provident fund contributions of their employees subject to stiff rules.
There are more than 2000 exempted establishments that manage their own EPF accounts with an estimated 48 lakh subscribers and a corpus of over Rs 1 lakh crore.
If the new rule is approved, once the amendment is brought about, exempted trusts cannot invest workers PF money and EPFO would make all investments, leaving the trusts to manage only the account details of the employees.
Workers' representatives welcomed the proposal.
"This is certainly a progressive step because private trusts were not doing justice to worker's funds and not making appropriate investments," said Sankar Saha from the All India Trade Union Congress ( AITUC )).
The CBT also decided to extend the deadline for appointment of new fund managers to August 31, and allow SBI to continue as an interim fund manager till that time. The EPFO hopes to complete the process by the end of July. The CBT gave its nod to the proposal of appointing a custodian for EPFO securities, separate from the fund managers.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/savings-centre/savings-news/private-pf-trusts-may-have-to-hand-over-responsibility-for-investing-funds-to-the-epfo/articleshow/8978511.cms
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) (Hindi: कर्मचारी भविष्य निधि संगठन), is a statutory body of the Government of India under Ministry of Labour and Employment. It administers a compulsory contributory Provident fund, pension and an insurance scheme for Indian Work force. It is one of the largest social security organisations in the world in terms of members and volume of financial transactions undertaken[citation needed].
The Constitution of India under "Directive Principles of State Policy" provides that the State shall within the limits of its economic capacity make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old-age, sickness & disablement and undeserved want. The EPF & MP Act, 1952 was enacted by Parliament and came into force with effect from 1 March 1952 as part of a series of legislative interventions made in this direction. Presently, the following three schemes are in operation under the Act:
Membership is compulsory for employees in establishments coming under the purview of the statute. As per provisions in force almost any establishment in India is required to have a registration with the basic criterion being employment of 20 or more persons. Contribution is at present 12% of basic monthly salary as employee's share and a matching contribution by the employer, with the total to be 13.61% of the total wages of the employees. Among the many benefits offered in addition to the compulsory Provident Fund (where the present rate of interest is 9.5%) are service Pension on retirement, death or disablement and a lumpsum insurance payout in case of death of the member, to his nominee/family.
The PF contribution is 12% of Basic salary from both employee and employer. For the calculation the maximum limit of Basic is Rs 6500/-. It means even if the employee's basic salary is above Rs 6500/- the employer is liable to contribute only on Rs 6500/-, that is Rs 780. However if an employee so desires he may voluntarily contribute more than 12%. Apart from it an employer also has to pay some administration charges. I explain you the various accounts of PF challan.
A/c No 1: PF contribution Account
A/c No 2: PF Admin account
A/c No 10: EPS account
A/c No 21: EDLIS account
A/c No 22: EDLIS admin account
PF admin charge = Employer has to pay 1.1 % of basic EDLIS: Employer has to pay 0.5% of basic EDLIS admin charge:Employer has to pay 0.01% of basic
Total additional percentage employer has to pay: 1.61% of basic
So employer has actually to pay 13.61 % of Basic and employee has to pay only 12% of basic.
Employees complete 12% goes to PF account while employer contributions' 8.33% goes to Pension fund and 3.67% goes to PF fund.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_percentage_of_pf_deduction_in_India#ixzz1KtWVpwL4
Administratively, the Organisation is Organised into Zones which are headed by an Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner for each of the political states in the country. The states have either one or more than one Regional Offices (R.O.) headed by Regional P.F. Commissioners (Grade I) which are further sub- divided into Sub- Regions (S.R.O.) headed by Regional P.F. Commissioners (Grade II) officers. To assist them are the Assistant P.F. Commissioners. The Assistant P.F. Commissioners are the frontline officers of the organisation. Most of the districts in the country have small district offices where an Enforcement Officer is stationed to inspect the local establishments and attend to member/ employer grievances.
The total manpower of the EPFO is at present almost 20000 including all levels. The Commissioner cadre numbering 815 are recruited directly, competitively, through the Union Public Service Commission of India as well as through promotion from lower ranks. Subordinate Officers (Enforcement Officers/ Accounts Officers) are also recruited directly in addition to promotion from the staff cadre of social security assistants.
the main challenge being faced by organisation can be pinpointed like 1- the computerization and keeping up with technological changes 2. providing coverage to very large section of workers who are eligible for membership but are denied by employers and in most of cases corrupt enforcement officers don't do any thing 3. one of the biggest challenge is to make the pension scheme meaningful. rs 6500 is the upper wage limit for contribution in pension scheme which at the retirement means a very meager sum of pension. the pension scheme is almost meaningless for employees and hence it raises a question mark on EPFO to be a social security scheme at all.
Corruption by the Enforcement officers has been a serious problem facing the organization, since joining the scheme is compulsory and the subscription rate being high, many of the smaller companies avoid joining the scheme. The organization, having legal powers to prosecute such companies, and make ad-hoc assessments and recover past arrears including interest and penalty, many of the field official connive with such companies for consideration. At times, less informed Companies are threatened by such officials. However, there is some check on this malpractice, since mandatory and routine inspections are now avoided and there is lot of restriction on inspection by field staff. However, one rule/instruction for employers that helps corrupt EPF officials and scares honest employers into making illegal payments to them is that they (employers) must "enroll all categories of employees including the employees engaged by or through contractors and also piece rated, hourly rated employees" . This is interpreted differently by different people and, according to one interpretation, all people from gardeners working one hour a week, newspaper delivery boys and construction workers employed for a short time to bus drivers and conductors employed by schools and other organisations through bus contractors can come under its purview. Semi-literate, part-time workers do not want this facility as they find it difficult to get back their contribution while small-time contractors refuse to pay their part of the contribution. The duty of filling in the forms and submitting the contribution of such employees of contractors rests with the employer having 20 or more employees which makes compliance difficult and leads to underhand payments to corrupt officials of the department. However to see the other face of the coin as the returns filing and claim filing is all to be done by the employer if an employer engages employees to keep record of all the employees as provided for in the statute and fulfills its responsibility in total all such employees who are receiving just about living wages can get a secured future not only for them but for their families also. Unfortunately employers don't remit full dues and in fact they are the one who try to corrupt the officials. They are helped by numerous consultants whose sole job is to find loopholes in the system and aid the employer in evasion. At times officials who want to work honestly feel targeted and lonely especially when the employer not being able to 'buy' them starts filing false complaints.
Another challenge before the Organisation is a gap on the policy front. There exists a fundamental, structural, administrative, governance and design flaws. After almost 60 years of operations, the scheme has been able to bring under its purview only about 400,000 establishments (about the same number as Employee Provident Fund of Malaysia with a population of 24 million), and about 40 million members. The EPFO thus services only a small fraction of the labour force. The, operational authority is not clearly defined. While the EPFO is governed by a 45-member Board of Trustees, headed by the Union Minister of Labour, administrative matters are under the control of the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, who is the Chief Executive Officer of EPFO with little effective powers.
While the Board has a bureaucrat at its head, the Central government appoints all the members, and a Cabinet minister has the final authority on all critical retirement related activities diluting the very purpose of the creation of the Board by the statute.
EPFO is run as if it were a welfare organization that does not require professionalism, expertise, and long-term sustainability. Social Security provisioning in India still lacks serious policy discussions and appropriate interventions as per international standards. The policy making still lies with bureaucrats in the permanent ministry who lack any quality exposure to issues related to social security administration or its provisioning. A pre-requisite for reforming the EPFO is a mindset change, with appropriate governance structure and leadership, to transform EPFO conferring to international standards.
The interest rate being offered to subscribers is still very high and the investment of the corpus of fund by the organization is not fetching such interest, resulting in drawing from surplus funds. This is a major concern for the government and the organization. The trustees, represented by the association of subscribers, have strong political affiliations, and do not act like professional trustees, but like interest groups to get maximum interest for those whom they represent. A Pension Scheme, introduced by the organization, could also face major fund problems, since the return on investment does not match the offer of pension outgo.
The EPFO has created a website and now many offices of EPFO have the facility of checking the balance savings online. The EPFO has launched a massive computerization program with the help of the Indian Government's National Informatic Centre (NIC), and has plans to reduce claims settlement time to 7 days. For getting forms click here for different types of application by its members.
It would appear that the origanisation is think of India is very successful the constraint of having to pay higher interest rate on deposit and higher pension as compared to return on investment could be limiting the departments interest to cover more establishments into the fold, and increase the wage ceiling of Rs 6,500.00 per month (around US $163 per month) for mandatory subscription.
Categories: Welfare economics | Executive branch of the Indian government | Retirement in India | Labour relations in India | Government and pension funds | Business and industry organisations based in India
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The retirement fund manager EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustee (CBT) will meet today to decide the interest rate on provident fund deposits for 2010-11, which is likely to be kept at 8.5 per cent.
"The rate of return on Provident Fund deposits for 2010-11 is on the agenda of the meeting of CBT scheduled for September 15," a source said, adding that interest for the current fiscal is likely to be 8.5 per cent and it would leave a surplus of over Rs. 15 crore.
Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been maintaining 8.5 per cent rate of interest since 2005-06. The EPFO has estimated an income of Rs. 15,036 crore in 2010-11.
The other issues which are listed for the meeting include parking a portion of EPFO's funds in the stock market, and it could dominate the discussions.
In July, Finance Secretary Ashok Chawala has written a letter to Labour Secretary P C Chaturvedi where the former had asked for making investment in stock market.
There are differences between the ministries of Labour and Finance on the issue. The Finance Ministry wants the Labour Ministry to follow the investment pattern that it is has notified, which provides for up to 15 per cent of the corpus in stock markets without approval of CBT.
However, Labour Ministry has made it clear that the decision of CBT would be 'Supreme' and 'Final' in this regard. Whereas the EPFO commands a corpus of Rs. 3 lakh crore, other provident funds, which follow the Fund's investment pattern, have another Rs. 2 lakh crore.
The other issue would be overhauling of EPFO's Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) which has a subscribers base of over 4.45 crore. The EPS has become the government's area of concern due to surging deficit that had reached Rs. 22,000 crore by March 31, 2006 as per the latest data available.
An expert group constituted by the government for the purpose has called for carving out two separate accounts -- PF and annuity -- in the employee provident fund scheme to meet the challenge of fund depletion in the pension scheme and introducing greater transparency for subscribers.
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Story first published:
September 15, 2010 10:00 IST
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/profit/provident-fund-money-for-stock-markets-98503?cp
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/profit/provident-fund-money-for-stock-markets-98503&cp
Next Generation of Reforms Pushed by the Global Zionist Satanic Brahaminical Hegemony, means sovereignty of Free Market. It means that Brahmin Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is all set to DIVERT Provident Fund to the Market!You may feel overjoyed to know that the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) today said account details would be available online from July 1. I am afraid, the Danger is too Hidden.Already, the service tax wing of the finance ministry has slapped a Rs 1,000-crore notice on Employees Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO ) on the grounds that the entity that manages PF and pension for 4.7 crore employees had hired the services of fund managers and is liable to pay tax. The move comes within weeks of the income tax department demanding Rs 7,000 crore for earnings from accrued interests. Just be AWARE as Investment in equity market is risky, says Samirendra Chatterjee, EPFO chief!Retirement fund body EPFO will appoint the multiple fund managers to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore by July 31, a month ahead of its latest deadline.
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SIX HUNDRED SEVENTY THREE
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/
Law ministry proposes 20-yr term for babus as part of governance reforms!
How to check my Employee Provident Fundbalance? - RTI INDIA
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2 JUL, 2011, 10.00AM IST,TNN
Employees' provident fund: Track your PF account with a click of mouse
NEW DELHI: An update of your Provident Fund (PF) account's balance is only a mouse click away. The Employees' Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO ) on Friday posted a link in its website , enabling members to get their PF account balance update as SMS alert on their cell phones.
Members only need to furnish their respective PF account numbers to avail this facility. EPFO had been conducting an internal trial of this software for the past two months.
"The idea is to make the system transparent. Now, an employee can regularly check, whether the amount, which is being deducted every month from h/his salary, is getting deposited with us. If s/he finds any discrepancy , the individual can take the matter up with the employer or us," said central provident fund commissioner S Chatterjee.
EPFO has also started online tracking of PF claims as part of the initiative to inculcate transparency . Account update details too are available online for each of the 120 EPFO offices in the country . The labour minister has set a target of December 2011 for all PF accounts to be updated.
The organization has also completed updating of the 4.72crore pending accounts for 2008-09 ahead of the September deadline . The finance ministry had set this timeframe while approving the 9.5% interest rate for 2010-11 year.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/savings-centre/savings-news/employees-provident-fund-track-your-pf-account-with-a-click-of-mouse/articleshow/9073557.cms
Next Generation of Reforms Pushed by the Global Zionist Satanic Brahaminical Hegemony, means sovereignty of Free Market. It means that Brahmin Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is all set to DIVERT Provident Fund to the Market!You may feel overjoyed to know that the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) today said account details would be available online from July 1. I am afraid, the Danger is too Hidden.Already, the service tax wing of the finance ministry has slapped a Rs 1,000-crore notice on Employees Provident Fund Organization ( EPFO ) on the grounds that the entity that manages PF and pension for 4.7 crore employees had hired the services of fund managers and is liable to pay tax. The move comes within weeks of the income tax department demanding Rs 7,000 crore for earnings from accrued interests. Just be AWARE as Investment in equity market is risky, says Samirendra Chatterjee, EPFO chief!
The law ministry has prepared a 10-point governance reforms agenda which envisages capping a bureaucrat's term to 20 years and seeks reforms in allocation of mining and land rights.
The presentation made to key UPA functionaries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi , says all new recruitments to central government jobs should be for 20 years and any extension beyond that would depend on the outcome of intense review, the law ministry has said in its presentation on governance reforms.
It has also suggested several transparent systems for exploitation of natural mineral resources which include a comprehensive survey of all mining blocks, allocation of mining leases through competitive process such as electronic auctions and imposition of export tax to discourage exports of raw minerals.
The government has been contemplating administrative reforms to improve governance in the country. There has been widespread criticism in recent year about the deterioration in governance and delivery of public services.
Regarding reforms of the bureaucracy the law ministry says that all public servants shall be subjected to two intensive reviews on completion of 14 years and 20 years of service. It calls for specific tenures to be fixed for each post to ensure objectivity, continuity and autonomy and to avoid arbitrary transfers.
To curb naxalism, the law ministry has suggested payment of reasonable monthly amount in cash to all below poverty line families in the affected areas. It says mineral processing areas should be set up in these areas and those who lose their land for setting up such units should be made stakeholders either through equity or employment or both.
"To improve the quality of life and also to mainstream them it is necessary that bulk of the proceeds from the exploitation of natural resources in the tribal areas should be utilized for their welfare," the ministry said in its presentation.
On urban land management, it calls for a ban on allotment by public agencies through discretionary quotas and has backed immediate survey and preparation of accurate urban property records.
It also suggests that the Real Estate Regulation Bill being proposed by the Urban Development Ministry should be expedited and all natural resources such as spectrum should be allotted by a competitive transparent process.
"Because of the pressures of rapid urbanization urban land has become a scarce and valuable commodity. This has encouraged speculation, black marketing and unauthorized land markets," the law ministry says.
"This has been facilitated by the inadequacies in our urban property records and weak and pliable town planning. This has created a class of land mafia, which has become a source of black money and political clout."
It says suggests the setting up of a district level ombudsman to ensure that rights of the citizens through the Right to Information Act, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Forest Right Act, Right to Education etc are protected and there is a redressal system at the grass-roots structure.
EPFO ( Employee Provident Fund ) account details are now online
DeshGujarat - 4 hours ago
The Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has put account details availability online from July 1. This means you can know how much amount has been deposited in your Provident Fund account online. The EPF department has started an EPFO web ...
EPFO starts online PF status service
SamayLive - 9 hours ago
The status of your provident fund is just a click away now as the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has made online status services available for its member. The Employee Provident Fund Organistaion (EPFO) has launched the facility of online ...
<B>Q&A:</B> Samirendra Chatterjee, Central PF Commissioner
Business Standard - 1 hour agoWe have started the online account information facility on the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) website. To avail themselves of this facility, subscribers will have to go to the site and provide their account number and mobile number. ...
PF account settlements, online transfer on cards
Business Standard - Santosh Tiwari - Jun 30, 2011For over 47.2 million members of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the hassles associated with transfer of accounts and withdrawals, is expected to disappear soon. The EPFO is set to introduce the facility for online filing of ...
Know your PF balance online
Business Line - Jul 1, 2011Beginning Friday (July 1, 2011), people with accounts in the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) could check their PF balance online. By using a simple process using EPFO's portal, people could get to know the balance. ...
Real Estate corner
Real estate market ready for correction
Property prices are finally correcting after a year of upswing that crimped home sales across the country, a housing index showed.
- DLF sells 400 plots worth Rs 700 crore
- BofA seals a 30K sq ft lease deal in Nariman Point
- Gujarati buyers opt for 5-6 BHK flats
- 'Realtor' PACL's 'illegal schemes' may drown millions
Rich Pickings
Philanthropy: Indians give just 1.5-3% of their annual incomes
A Bain report indicates that under the right conditions, giving in India can reach significant and impactful proportions.
- Companies hire specialists to service HNIs
- Raghavan on way to change Indian philanthropy
- Kushagra Bajaj gives $2.5 mn for Carnegie
- Indians lead among emerging mkts in charity
- Nilekanis announce a gift of $11 mn to IIHS
Working Population
NSSO data shows fewer people want to work
The relative decline in the number of people willing to work has come as a reality check for India, where a larger working population is seen aiding economic growth.
- Jobless growth concentrated in female half
- 'Q&A format likely cause for NSSO gaps'
- 'Over half of India's workforce self-employed'
- Serv
Retirement fund body EPFO will appoint the multiple fund managers to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore by July 31, a month ahead of its latest deadline.
"You can watch the account balance of your PF online from July 1," Assistant PF Commissioner Kanchan Roy said at an interactive session at Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"This indeed would be a great help to about 5 crore PF subscribers in India ," he said.
EPFO plans to replace PF account number with unique identification number, a move which will help in speedy transfer of a subscribers' funds in case of job change and allow them to track their accounts online.
The replacement of PF account number with the UID number will be done after inter-connecting all regional and sub offices of the EPFO by March, 2012.
Economic Times reported on last 26th May:
The two notices are being seen as retaliatory action from the finance ministry after an exchange of letters took place between labour secretary P C Chaturvedi and R Gopalan, who is now the economic affairs secretary. Gopalan , who was financial services secretary till the end of January, had questioned EPFO's assumptions on paying 9.5% interest during 2010-11 as also the decision to stay away from equity markets.
Chaturvedi had retorted with an equally strong letter and the labour ministry had prevailed upon the finance ministry in the war over rates. EPFO has already moved the appellate authority, arguing that it is not a financial institution but an entity that provides social security net. Besides, it has argued that despite using the services of fund managers, its corpus hardly generated any profit.
"The transactions undertaken by EPFO are not commercial in nature. All the effort and expenditure that they incur in managing the funds are paid in the form of interest to subscribers ," a labour ministry official said. It has taken a similar stand in its plea to the income tax appellate authority.
EPFO's argument: whatever its earnings are from the interests in invested funds are distributed to its subscribers at the end of the year. "PF earnings are interestfree . How can we be expected to pay income tax?" an official asked. Both matters are pending in appellate tribunals . However, if the notices are a oblique pointer to a labour and finance ministries' face-off , with an element of "settling score" thrown in for a good measure, it could linger for long. The EPFO may even have to move court.
The finance ministry took a long time to give its nod for the 9.5% interest rate. It had cited the Comptroller and Auditor General's objection about provident accounts not being up to date, and hence argued that EPFO's calculations were faulty. Members of EPFO's central board of trustees (CBT) had reacted sharply to the objection.
They had argued that the finance ministry had no right to quibble over interest rates since it didn't pick up the tab. CBT didn't invest in the capital market since there was no commitment to a guaranteed minimum rate of return.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personalfinance/savingscentre/savingsnews/EPFO-served-1000-crore-service-tax-notice/articleshow/8583234.cms
"Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will be able to wind up the process of appointment of fund managers by July 31," a Labour Ministry official said.
EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees , headed by Labour Minister, had decided to extend the timeline for appointment of fund managers to August 31, on Friday.
The official said, "EPFO engaged consultant firm CRISIL, for appointment of fund managers, will open the financial bids on July 8, and the process of shortlisting would not take more than a week."
Once shortlisting is done, the proposal would be placed before the CBT to take a final call. However, the next meeting of the trustees has not been scheduled so far.
The official said, "Since the Parliament's monsoon session would start on August 1, EPFO will try to appoint fund managers by July 31."
CRISIL has already started processing technical bids on June 24, and will not take more than 10 days to process bids, he added.
On June 6, giving reasonable time for submitting technical and financial bids, the EPFO had asked the 10 AMCs who had earlier evinced an interest in managing its funds to submit their bids by June 24.
EPFO had to appoint multiple AMCs by June 30, so that the newly appointed managers could take over its fund by July 1, for a three-year period, as desired by the CBT.
EPFO had also missed a deadline of March 31, this year, the day on which the term of four fund managers, including ICICI Pru, HSBC AMC, Reliance Capital and SBI expired. It had planned to appoint new fund managers for next three financial yeas beginning April 1.
Besides the four AMCs who had managed EPFO corpus, seven new firms, including Kotak Securities, Securities Trading Corporation of India, UTI Securities and ICICI Securities, have expressed interest in managing the retirement fund corpus.
The EPFO had appointed the multiple fund managers for the first time in July, 2008, with the objective of providing a better rate of return on deposits to its 4.72 crore subscribers.
Prior to this, SBI was the sole fund manager for it since its inception in 1952.
"Through downstream investment you (a foreign company) can come with 49 per cent and if you can go two-layers down, you can do even more," the official said.
22 JUN, 2011, 11.53AM IST, ABANTIKA GHOSH & SIDHARTHA,TNN
Investment in equity market is risky, says Samirendra Chatterjee, EPFO chief
NEW DELHI: Samirendra Chatterjee is one of the largest fund managers in the country and certainly the one who is most closely watched. After all, as the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, he is responsible for nearly five crore provident fund accounts and manages some Rs 3.5 lakh crore. Chatterjee spoke to TOI about the changes at EPFO, the interest rate scenario and why the entity is resisting investment in equities . Excerpts:
It is still very tough to deal with EPFO - you can't find how much money there is in your account and the paperwork is cumbersome. Is something being done?
We are trying very hard to make the services to members transparent. We have already put online the position of updation of member accounts office-wise on our website. Very soon individual accounts balance too will be available online. For employers too we have simplified the process of filing statements. We have given them a software tool to enable them to download the returns from their salary bills, and send it to us in CDs so that our offices can upload it. Transfer settlements have also been computerized and are being sent electronically . There are some teething troubles because of the training it entails. But things are changing. We are taking one step at a time to ensure that services are made efficient to members.
You have started a process of streamlining of inoperative accounts. How has the response been?
Every month we get about five lakh applications for withdrawal. There has been a 30-40 % increase in that figure , which I believe is because of the announcement that accounts that have been inoperative for three years or more will not be given interest beyond March 31, 2011. Though we will stop paying interests on these accounts, the capital will remain safe. So, even if someone from the family comes and makes a claim in future, with the required identity, we will make the payment.
How much money is lying like this?
The estimate is around Rs 15,000 crore spread across 2.5-3 crore accounts. Some accounts have huge accumulations . We will invest this money but there will be no interest payment on accounts that are inoperative for three years.
How much difference will it make to the interest rate for the current year?
It is difficult to estimate now since many will withdraw now, and others will consolidate their multiple accounts through transfers.
As for this year's interest rate, it is still too early to say. Nearly 85% of our funds are already invested and returns will not be higher just because interest rates have gone up now. It is only 10-15 % on which we can hope to earn a little more, given the higher rates that are on offer at present . So, on Rs 1.8 lakh crore our returns are booked, on the incremental Rs 30,000 crore we may gain a little but it will not make substantial difference to what we earned last year (8.5%).
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/interviews/Investment-in-equity-market-is-risky-says-Samirendra-Chatterjee-EPFO-chief/articleshow/8947313.cms
EPFO to appoint fund managers by July-endEconomic Times - Jun 26, 2011NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body EPFO will appoint the multiple fund managers to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore by July 31, a month ahead of its latest deadline. "Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will be able to wind up the ... CAG looking into performance of EPFO's fund managerThe Hindu - Jun 25, 2011PTI Government auditor CAG is looking into the performance of the fund managers appointed by the EPFO to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore as part of the 5-year 'performance audit' of the retirement fund body. CAG, according to sources, ... Trusts may have to park funds with EPFOEconomic Times - Jun 24, 2011NEW DELHI: More than 2000 establishments that manage their employees provident fund accounts may soon have to handover the entire corpus to the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, or EPFO. The top policy-making body of EPFO, the Central Board of ... EPFO to appoint separate custodians for investmentsIndian Express - Jun 24, 2011The decisions were taken at a meeting of the EPFO's Central Board of Trustees on Friday. "The Board also approved a proposal for appointment of custodian of securities of EPFO. This measure was taken to separate the custodial services from the Fund ... EPFO to appoint independent custodian of securitiesBusiness Standard - Jun 24, 2011The Central Board of Trustees of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Friday decided to appoint an independent custodian to bank its securities worth Rs 4 lakh crore. At present, State Bank of India (SBI) is the overall custodian of ... EPFO moves to protect contract workersTimes of India - Jun 24, 2011In a separate proposal, though the trustees did not factor in the frequent demands for raising the Rs 6500 mandatory limit for EPFO, they said that a provision be made to ensure that the salary on which the contribution is made is not lower than the ... EPFO extends deadline for appointment of fund managersEconomic Times - Jun 24, 2011NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body EPFO decided to extend the deadline for appointment of fund managers to manage its huge corpus of over Rs 3.5 lakh crore to August 31, 2011. "The EPFO's apex decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), ... Private PF trusts may have to hand over responsibility for investing funds to ...Economic Times - Jun 24, 2011NEW DELHI: Companies managing provident fund accumulations of their employees in-house may soon have to hand over the entire corpus to employees' provident fund organisation, or EPFO, as government looks for ways to ensure retirement saving of workers ... EPFO to appoint custodian for securities, extend cover to contract employees ...domain-B - Jun 25, 2011The central board of trustees of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has approved a proposal to appoint a custodian of securities of EPFO, in a measure to separate custodial services from fund managers, which, it said, would bring more ... Investment in equity market is risky, says Samirendra Chatterjee, EPFO chiefistockAnalyst.com (press release) - Jun 24, 2011Chatterjee spoke to TOI about the changes at EPFO, the interest rate scenario and why the entity is resisting investment in equities . Excerpts: It is still very tough to deal with EPFO - you can't find how much money there is in your account and the ... EPFO securities to have separate custodianBusiness Line - Jun 24, 2011To ensure transparency, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to appoint a separate custodian for its securities, rather than leave it to fund managers. The decision to separate the two functions was taken on Friday by the ... Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister of Labour and Employment and Chairman Central ...Press Information Bureau (press release) - Jun 24, 2011The Board also stipulated that the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation EPFO would finalize the selection of fund managers before the expiry of the extended period. Till such time the State Bank of India would continue as fund manager of EPFO corpus. ... CAG looks into performance of EPFO fund managerBusiness Standard - Jun 25, 2011PTI / New Delhi June 26, 2011, 10:44 IST Government auditor CAG is looking into the performance of the fund managers appointed by the EPFO to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore as part of the 5-year 'performance audit' of the retirement fund ... EPFO extends fund managers' appointment deadline to Aug 31Moneycontrol.com - Jun 24, 2011Published on Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 12:40 | Source : PTI Retirement fund body EPFO on Friday decided to extend the deadline for appointment of fund managers to manage its huge corpus of over Rs 3.5 lakh crore to August 31, 2011. ... PF accounts to go online from July 1Chandigarh Tribune - Jun 24, 2011From July 1, the amount deposited in your Provident Fund (PF) account can be seen by simply typing out the PF number online. By December 1, all details will be available online. This will result as the government has implemented one of the ... Scan on EPFO fund managersCalcutta Telegraph - Jun 26, 2011New Delhi, June 26 (PTI): The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is looking into the performance of fund managers appointed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore as part of a five-year ... EPFO extends deadline for appointing fund managersFinancial Express - Jun 24, 2011PTI New Delhi: Retirement fund body EPFO on Friday decided to appoint separate custodians of its investments and extended the deadline of appointment of fund managers by two months to August 31. Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has taken ... |
Ministry of Labour & Employment24-June, 2011 20:34 IST
| Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister of Labour and Employment and Chairman Central Board of Trustees (EPF) Assures Transparency in the Management of EPFO Corpus |
| The 194th meeting of the Central Board of Trustees, EPF, which was the eleventh regular meeting of the present Board, was convened here today. The Board deliberated upon a proposal for further extension of the selection process of the new fund managers for a period of two months effective from 01.07.2011. The Board also stipulated that the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation EPFO would finalize the selection of fund managers before the expiry of the extended period. Till such time the State Bank of India would continue as fund manager of EPFO corpus. The Board also approved a proposal for appointment of custodian of securities of EPFO. This measure was taken to separate the custodial services separate from the Fund managers to bring further transparency in the management of EPFO corpus. The Board also decided to refer the Report of the Working Group on Comprehensive Amendment to the Employees Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 to the Ministry of Labour & Employment for further examination. The above decisions were taken under the Chairmanship of Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, the Union Minister of Labour and Employment and Chairman, CBT (EPF). Shri P.C. Chaturvedi Secretary (Labour & Employment) and Vice-Chairman of the CBT, EPF was also present in the meeting. YSK (Release ID :72870) |
CAG looking into performance of EPFO's fund manager
Government auditor CAG is looking into the performance of the fund managers appointed by the EPFO to manage its huge corpus of Rs 3.5 lakh crore as part of the 5-year 'performance audit' of the retirement fund body.
CAG, according to sources, is also looking into the performance of the fund managers appointed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in managing the corpus.
The Performance Audit Report for 2005-10 is likely to be finalised by June-end and would be sent to the Labour Ministry for comments before being tabled in Parliament, sources said.
"The report is likely to be tabled in the monsoon session," said a source.
The scope of audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) would extend to overall financial management of EPFO as well as adequacy of internal controls and use of IT.
The audit would also look into the basis of declaration of interest rates by the EPFO and whether the subscriber accounts are being updated on a regular basis and claims are settled on time.
EPFO had appointed four fund managers-- ICICI, HSBC, Reliance Capital and SBI -- for the first time in July 2008, to provide a better rate of return on deposits to its 4.72 crore subscribers. Prior to that, SBI was the sole fund manager for it since its inception in 1952.
Sources said the CAG audit would look into the method adopted for selection of the fund managers and whether proper checks and balances were conducted prior to their appointment.
Last year, the EPFOs apex decision making body Central Board of Trustees (CBT) had announced that the PF fund manager would pay an interest rate of 9.5 per cent for 2010-11, citing a surplus of Rs 1,731.57 crore. The EPFO had been giving 8.5 per cent interest to PF subscribers since 2005-06.
However, CAG had cautioned that the accumulation in the interest suspense account (ISA) of the fund manager was due to "non-updation" of accounts of 4.72 crore members as on March, 2010. There are about 10 crore accounts with EPFO.
The EPFO currently follows a cash basis of accounting for calculating investments, while it calculates the interest liability on the basis of accruals.
CAG had said that EPFO should update all the member accounts, then "it shall determine its interest liability" so that the balance remaining thereafter can be declared as a surplus.
24 JUN, 2011, 08.08PM IST, AMITI SEN,ET BUREAU
Private PF trusts may have to hand over responsibility for investing funds to the EPFO
NEW DELHI: Companies managing provident fund accumulations of their employees in-house may soon have to hand over the entire corpus to employees' provident fund organisation, or EPFO, as government looks for ways to ensure retirement saving of workers are protected.
The Central Board of Trustees, the EPFO's top decision making body, has endorsed a proposal that trusts be allowed to only manage EPF accounts and not funds.
There are hundreds of organisations that turn sick and are not in a position to pay their workers' PF dues, labour secretary P C Chaturvedi said.
"The new provision would ensure that workers' money is safe in such cases," he said.
The labour ministry will prepare a Cabinet note for amending the EPF Act which will finally be placed before Parliament.
"As per the proposed amendment, exempted trusts will only manage PF accounts and every month deposit surplus funds that is left after settlement of claims with the EPFO," Chaturvedi said.
Under the current rules, companies meeting certain eligibility conditions are allowed to set up trusts to manage the provident fund contributions of their employees subject to stiff rules.
There are more than 2000 exempted establishments that manage their own EPF accounts with an estimated 48 lakh subscribers and a corpus of over Rs 1 lakh crore.
If the new rule is approved, once the amendment is brought about, exempted trusts cannot invest workers PF money and EPFO would make all investments, leaving the trusts to manage only the account details of the employees.
Workers' representatives welcomed the proposal.
"This is certainly a progressive step because private trusts were not doing justice to worker's funds and not making appropriate investments," said Sankar Saha from the All India Trade Union Congress ( AITUC )).
The CBT also decided to extend the deadline for appointment of new fund managers to August 31, and allow SBI to continue as an interim fund manager till that time. The EPFO hopes to complete the process by the end of July. The CBT gave its nod to the proposal of appointing a custodian for EPFO securities, separate from the fund managers.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/personal-finance/savings-centre/savings-news/private-pf-trusts-may-have-to-hand-over-responsibility-for-investing-funds-to-the-epfo/articleshow/8978511.cms
Employees' Provident Fund Organisation of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia| * | |
| Headquarters | *Bhavishya Nidhi Bhawan, 14, Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066 |
| Key people | Samirendra Chatterjee, I.A.S, Central P. F. Commissioner |
| Website |
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) (Hindi: कर्मचारी भविष्य निधि संगठन), is a statutory body of the Government of India under Ministry of Labour and Employment. It administers a compulsory contributory Provident fund, pension and an insurance scheme for Indian Work force. It is one of the largest social security organisations in the world in terms of members and volume of financial transactions undertaken[citation needed].
Contents[hide] |
Mission
"To extend the reach and the quality of publicly managed old-age income security programs through consistent and ever-improving standards of compliance and benefit delivery in a manner that wins the approval and confidence of Indians in our methods, fairness, honesty and integrity, thereby contributing to the economic and social well-being of Indians."Legal basis
The Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 came into effect on 4 March 1952. The Organisation is administered by a Central Board of Trustees, composed of representatives of the Government of India, provincial governments, employers and employees. The Board is chaired by the Union Labour Minister of India. The Chief Executive of the EPFO, the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, reports to the Union Labour Minister through the Permanent Secretary in the ministry. The head office of the Organisation is in New Delhi. [1].The Constitution of India under "Directive Principles of State Policy" provides that the State shall within the limits of its economic capacity make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old-age, sickness & disablement and undeserved want. The EPF & MP Act, 1952 was enacted by Parliament and came into force with effect from 1 March 1952 as part of a series of legislative interventions made in this direction. Presently, the following three schemes are in operation under the Act:
- Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952
- Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976
- Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (replacing the Employees' Family Pension Scheme, 1971)
Size and contributions
The total financial corpus managed by the EPFO is in excess of Rs. 2000 billion ($50 billion) and there are a total of about 40 million contributing and non contributing members in about 450,000 covered establishments.Membership is compulsory for employees in establishments coming under the purview of the statute. As per provisions in force almost any establishment in India is required to have a registration with the basic criterion being employment of 20 or more persons. Contribution is at present 12% of basic monthly salary as employee's share and a matching contribution by the employer, with the total to be 13.61% of the total wages of the employees. Among the many benefits offered in addition to the compulsory Provident Fund (where the present rate of interest is 9.5%) are service Pension on retirement, death or disablement and a lumpsum insurance payout in case of death of the member, to his nominee/family.
The PF contribution is 12% of Basic salary from both employee and employer. For the calculation the maximum limit of Basic is Rs 6500/-. It means even if the employee's basic salary is above Rs 6500/- the employer is liable to contribute only on Rs 6500/-, that is Rs 780. However if an employee so desires he may voluntarily contribute more than 12%. Apart from it an employer also has to pay some administration charges. I explain you the various accounts of PF challan.
A/c No 1: PF contribution Account
A/c No 2: PF Admin account
A/c No 10: EPS account
A/c No 21: EDLIS account
A/c No 22: EDLIS admin account
PF admin charge = Employer has to pay 1.1 % of basic EDLIS: Employer has to pay 0.5% of basic EDLIS admin charge:Employer has to pay 0.01% of basic
Total additional percentage employer has to pay: 1.61% of basic
So employer has actually to pay 13.61 % of Basic and employee has to pay only 12% of basic.
Employees complete 12% goes to PF account while employer contributions' 8.33% goes to Pension fund and 3.67% goes to PF fund.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_percentage_of_pf_deduction_in_India#ixzz1KtWVpwL4
Structure
The EPFO has the dual role of being the enforcement agency to oversee the implementation of the EPF& MP Act and as a service provider to the members throughout the country. To this end the Commissioners of the Organisation are vested with vast powers under the statute conferring quasi- judicial authority for search and seizure of records, assessment of financial liability on the employer, levy of damages, attachment and auction of a defaulter's property, prosecution and arrest and detention in civil prison.Administratively, the Organisation is Organised into Zones which are headed by an Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner for each of the political states in the country. The states have either one or more than one Regional Offices (R.O.) headed by Regional P.F. Commissioners (Grade I) which are further sub- divided into Sub- Regions (S.R.O.) headed by Regional P.F. Commissioners (Grade II) officers. To assist them are the Assistant P.F. Commissioners. The Assistant P.F. Commissioners are the frontline officers of the organisation. Most of the districts in the country have small district offices where an Enforcement Officer is stationed to inspect the local establishments and attend to member/ employer grievances.
The total manpower of the EPFO is at present almost 20000 including all levels. The Commissioner cadre numbering 815 are recruited directly, competitively, through the Union Public Service Commission of India as well as through promotion from lower ranks. Subordinate Officers (Enforcement Officers/ Accounts Officers) are also recruited directly in addition to promotion from the staff cadre of social security assistants.
Challenges facing the Organisation
 * | The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (October 2009) |
the main challenge being faced by organisation can be pinpointed like 1- the computerization and keeping up with technological changes 2. providing coverage to very large section of workers who are eligible for membership but are denied by employers and in most of cases corrupt enforcement officers don't do any thing 3. one of the biggest challenge is to make the pension scheme meaningful. rs 6500 is the upper wage limit for contribution in pension scheme which at the retirement means a very meager sum of pension. the pension scheme is almost meaningless for employees and hence it raises a question mark on EPFO to be a social security scheme at all.
Corruption by the Enforcement officers has been a serious problem facing the organization, since joining the scheme is compulsory and the subscription rate being high, many of the smaller companies avoid joining the scheme. The organization, having legal powers to prosecute such companies, and make ad-hoc assessments and recover past arrears including interest and penalty, many of the field official connive with such companies for consideration. At times, less informed Companies are threatened by such officials. However, there is some check on this malpractice, since mandatory and routine inspections are now avoided and there is lot of restriction on inspection by field staff. However, one rule/instruction for employers that helps corrupt EPF officials and scares honest employers into making illegal payments to them is that they (employers) must "enroll all categories of employees including the employees engaged by or through contractors and also piece rated, hourly rated employees" . This is interpreted differently by different people and, according to one interpretation, all people from gardeners working one hour a week, newspaper delivery boys and construction workers employed for a short time to bus drivers and conductors employed by schools and other organisations through bus contractors can come under its purview. Semi-literate, part-time workers do not want this facility as they find it difficult to get back their contribution while small-time contractors refuse to pay their part of the contribution. The duty of filling in the forms and submitting the contribution of such employees of contractors rests with the employer having 20 or more employees which makes compliance difficult and leads to underhand payments to corrupt officials of the department. However to see the other face of the coin as the returns filing and claim filing is all to be done by the employer if an employer engages employees to keep record of all the employees as provided for in the statute and fulfills its responsibility in total all such employees who are receiving just about living wages can get a secured future not only for them but for their families also. Unfortunately employers don't remit full dues and in fact they are the one who try to corrupt the officials. They are helped by numerous consultants whose sole job is to find loopholes in the system and aid the employer in evasion. At times officials who want to work honestly feel targeted and lonely especially when the employer not being able to 'buy' them starts filing false complaints.
Another challenge before the Organisation is a gap on the policy front. There exists a fundamental, structural, administrative, governance and design flaws. After almost 60 years of operations, the scheme has been able to bring under its purview only about 400,000 establishments (about the same number as Employee Provident Fund of Malaysia with a population of 24 million), and about 40 million members. The EPFO thus services only a small fraction of the labour force. The, operational authority is not clearly defined. While the EPFO is governed by a 45-member Board of Trustees, headed by the Union Minister of Labour, administrative matters are under the control of the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, who is the Chief Executive Officer of EPFO with little effective powers.
While the Board has a bureaucrat at its head, the Central government appoints all the members, and a Cabinet minister has the final authority on all critical retirement related activities diluting the very purpose of the creation of the Board by the statute.
EPFO is run as if it were a welfare organization that does not require professionalism, expertise, and long-term sustainability. Social Security provisioning in India still lacks serious policy discussions and appropriate interventions as per international standards. The policy making still lies with bureaucrats in the permanent ministry who lack any quality exposure to issues related to social security administration or its provisioning. A pre-requisite for reforming the EPFO is a mindset change, with appropriate governance structure and leadership, to transform EPFO conferring to international standards.
The interest rate being offered to subscribers is still very high and the investment of the corpus of fund by the organization is not fetching such interest, resulting in drawing from surplus funds. This is a major concern for the government and the organization. The trustees, represented by the association of subscribers, have strong political affiliations, and do not act like professional trustees, but like interest groups to get maximum interest for those whom they represent. A Pension Scheme, introduced by the organization, could also face major fund problems, since the return on investment does not match the offer of pension outgo.
The EPFO has created a website and now many offices of EPFO have the facility of checking the balance savings online. The EPFO has launched a massive computerization program with the help of the Indian Government's National Informatic Centre (NIC), and has plans to reduce claims settlement time to 7 days. For getting forms click here for different types of application by its members.
It would appear that the origanisation is think of India is very successful the constraint of having to pay higher interest rate on deposit and higher pension as compared to return on investment could be limiting the departments interest to cover more establishments into the fold, and increase the wage ceiling of Rs 6,500.00 per month (around US $163 per month) for mandatory subscription.
External links
Categories: Welfare economics | Executive branch of the Indian government | Retirement in India | Labour relations in India | Government and pension funds | Business and industry organisations based in India
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Member Balance Service launched on 1st July 2011 as announced on 22/06/2011 by Hon'ble Minister for Labour & Employment and Chairman, CBT, EPF. ...
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1 Sep 2010 – 9, All India Comprehensive EPFO Office Address cum Officers Directory(90 pages). 10, All India EPFOEmployees Directory ...
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Employees' Provident Fund Organisation of India - Wikipedia, the ...
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The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) (Hindi: कर्मचारी भविष्य निधि संगठन), is a statutory body of the Government of India ...
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EPFO INDIA" Recruits FRESHERS : Last Date : 10 Jun 2009.
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EPFO - In the forefront of change in delivery of publicly managed services. EPFO serves more than 40 million employees in India....
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1 Jun 2011 – EPFO India Complaints: Grievance site problem.... Wal-Mart Opens Wholesale Stores in India. India Finally Gets iPhone 4. Worst rating ...
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Provident fund money for stock markets?
Press Trust of India, 15 September, 2010, Updated: September 16, 2010 10:00 ISTAds by Google
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The retirement fund manager EPFO's apex decision making body Central Board of Trustee (CBT) will meet today to decide the interest rate on provident fund deposits for 2010-11, which is likely to be kept at 8.5 per cent.
"The rate of return on Provident Fund deposits for 2010-11 is on the agenda of the meeting of CBT scheduled for September 15," a source said, adding that interest for the current fiscal is likely to be 8.5 per cent and it would leave a surplus of over Rs. 15 crore.
Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been maintaining 8.5 per cent rate of interest since 2005-06. The EPFO has estimated an income of Rs. 15,036 crore in 2010-11.
The other issues which are listed for the meeting include parking a portion of EPFO's funds in the stock market, and it could dominate the discussions.
In July, Finance Secretary Ashok Chawala has written a letter to Labour Secretary P C Chaturvedi where the former had asked for making investment in stock market.
There are differences between the ministries of Labour and Finance on the issue. The Finance Ministry wants the Labour Ministry to follow the investment pattern that it is has notified, which provides for up to 15 per cent of the corpus in stock markets without approval of CBT.
However, Labour Ministry has made it clear that the decision of CBT would be 'Supreme' and 'Final' in this regard. Whereas the EPFO commands a corpus of Rs. 3 lakh crore, other provident funds, which follow the Fund's investment pattern, have another Rs. 2 lakh crore.
The other issue would be overhauling of EPFO's Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) which has a subscribers base of over 4.45 crore. The EPS has become the government's area of concern due to surging deficit that had reached Rs. 22,000 crore by March 31, 2006 as per the latest data available.
An expert group constituted by the government for the purpose has called for carving out two separate accounts -- PF and annuity -- in the employee provident fund scheme to meet the challenge of fund depletion in the pension scheme and introducing greater transparency for subscribers.
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Story first published:
September 15, 2010 10:00 IST
Tags: Provident fund
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Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/profit/provident-fund-money-for-stock-markets-98503?cp
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/profit/provident-fund-money-for-stock-markets-98503&cp
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Q&A: Samirendra Chatterjee, Central PF Commissioner 'EPFO will try to give the best returns possible' Santosh Tiwari / New Delhi July 03, 2011, 0:25 IST 'EPFO will try to give the best returns possible'
Central PF Commissioner Samirendra Chatterjee tells Santosh Tiwari how the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation is becoming subscriber-friendly.
The online account information facility started from July 1. How will this work, moving ahead?
We have started the online account information facility on the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) website. To avail themselves of this facility, subscribers will have to go to the site and provide their account number and mobile number. They will be intimated about their account balance through SMS. In some cases, accounts have been updated till 2010-11. By mid-July, all the accounts will be updated till at least 2008-09 and by December, these will be updated till 2010-11. The status of account updation is available on our website. In case of those organisations where filing of the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) details have been regular, the accounts were updated till 2010-11.
This is for accounts with EPFO. What about exempted trusts?
After we have made these available on our website, we will ask the exempted trusts to put them up on their own websites or link these with our website. Organisations which have exempted trusts for EPF will be required to update their accounts themselves. There are 3,000 of them, managing Rs 1 lakh crore. EPFO has a nearly Rs 2.5 lakh crore PF corpus from employees belonging to 600,000 organisations.
How are the other subscriber-friendly measures working such as information on claim status through the website and SMS?
The keen interest of the minister of labour and employment has ensured speedy movement on the computerisation front. Besides, we are adding new features. One of these is the SMS facility. Earlier, members could not know about their claim status after filing applications. Now, they can view it on our website as well as be intimated at every stage of processing through SMSes — from acceptance of the form to actual transfer of their money to their bank accounts.
Don't you think there is a possibility of misuse of these facilities?
After all, at some stage, you have to trust the people. The good thing is that the mobile number will get recorded with us. In case of any mischief, we will be able to trace the person.
The members are only getting information about the account balance. Through the mobile and website, we are not allowing any transaction. Transactions will follow the traditional method. We are not giving it on the screen. We are giving them through SMSes. To that extent, it is safe and secure.
Are you thinking of providing an online window for filing applications for transfer and settlement of accounts, as a next step?
We are already in the process. We are developing the software and testing it. We would wait for the current work of computerisation before introducing this facility. After that, we will definitely be bringing in the online filing of applications for transfer and settlement of accounts, followed by a hard copy. Initially, the digital signature facility will not be there and the members will have to send us a hard copy within a specified time, subsequent to the filling of the form online.
EPFO has the capability now. Why can't this be allowed quickly?
We are trying to take one step at a time. Considering the huge size of our organisation, it is difficult to cope with too many facilities at one point of time. So, we are trying to do it step by step.
What about Indian employees working abroad and contributing to the social security scheme of that country with whom India has a Social Security Agreement (SSA)? Are they coverable for PF in India or are they treated as excluded employees?
An Indian employee sent on posting to a country with which India has an SSA becomes an "international worker" and is required to contribute on full salary. He can, however, seek exemption from the social security legislation of the country in which he is posted on the basis of a detachment certificate issued, in terms of SSA. If an Indian employee is directly employed by a local employer abroad, he will be covered by the foreign country's legislation.
What is the status of SSAs?
Three SSAs in respect of Belgium, Germany and Switzerland have been made effective from September 1, 2009, October 1, 2009 and January 29, 2011, respectively. Apart from these, SSAs have already been signed with France, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Norway, Luxembourg, and Republic of Korea, but not yet made effective. Negotiations are at various stages with Canada, Quebec, Sweden, Australia, USA and Austria. Government-level talks are on with many other countries where sizable numbers of Indian workers are employed.
What about Indian employees working abroad and contributing to the social security scheme of a country with which India does not have a SSA?
If an Indian employee prior to his posting abroad qualifies/happens to be a contributing member of EPF, he will continue to be a member during his posting to a country with which India does not have an SSA.
And, foreign nationals employed in India and being paid in foreign currency...
International workers drawing salary in any currency and in any manner are to be covered.
How long can an Indian employee retain the status of 'international worker'?
An Indian employee attains the status of 'international worker' only on account of employment in a country with which India has an SSA. He will have that status till the time he avails the benefits under a social security programme covered under that SSA.
When will the independent custodian of securities be appointed?
We are in the process. We expect the independent custodian of securities to be appointed along with the new fund managers, before August. There would be four fund managers.
Will it be possible to retain 9.5 per cent interest rate for 2011-12?
We are in the process of consolidating and calculating. At this juncture, I can only say we will try to give the best return possible based on the earnings.
The income tax department has raised tax demand on withdrawals. How do you plan to tackle this?
Some field officials in the income tax department have issued some notices and raised tax demands. We are taking it up at the appropriate fora and that will take its own course.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/qa-samirendra-chatterjee-central-pf-commissioner/441309/
Should EPF invest more money in equity? Business Standard / New Delhi June 29, 2011, 0:43 IST
The move will be risky since the finance ministry cannot give a guarantee on returns but experience indicates that this risk is compensated by higher returns.D L Sachdeva
Member, CBT of the Employees Provident Fund
We feel that guaranteed returns, even if low, are preferable to non-guaranteed though higher returns from the stock market'
We are opposed to the investment of any component of provident fund in shares, whether we are talking on behalf of the trade unions or on behalf of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT). The proposal being made by the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is not new. It has been put before the Central Board of Trustees several times before. The CBT chairman, who is also the labour minister, has opposed it each time. Today we have investments only in public sector bonds; we have never gone to the stock market with our funds.
Usually, the demand is to put a limited portion of funds, say, five to ten per cent, in shares. But a five per cent investment would open the doors for such a pattern of investment in the future. That is a risk we cannot take. There was a long correspondence between the labour and finance ministries on this. The labour ministry even offered to put some funds in the market provided the finance ministry gave a guarantee — that is, if the returns were not on a par with the funds at the prevailing interest rates offered by EPFO then the finance ministry would reimburse the difference. But the finance ministry, which was so enthusiastic about pushing this proposal, refused to take this responsibility. P Chidambaram was finance minister when this proposal was made to the EPFO three or four times in the past few years.
We knew the finance ministry would not be able to give such a guarantee on returns or reimburse the difference in the EPF rates and the money received from the stock market. But we have stood by our decision of seeking guarantee on minimum returns.
In other countries, especially the developed ones, there is investment in stock market and there is no government guarantee either. But, then, they have been working towards curtailment of social security funds. Six months ago millions of people in Great Britain were on the streets protesting against these moves by the government to shirk its obligations.
Central and state government employees who are not subscribers of the EPFO have already been hit by the Centre's shift to unguaranteed returns in the New Pension Scheme (NPS). Pensions for employees from 2004 would be given on the basis of the market value of the annuities handed to them at the time of retirement. So pensions would be dependent on market vagaries. In the EPFO, returns are guaranteed. The government wants that guaranteed component to go — that explains the constant harping on investments in the stock market. Having achieved this for government employees in the NPS, it slowly wants to bring these unguaranteed returns to non-government employees through the back door by pushing investments in stock market. But we feel that guaranteed returns, even if low, are preferable to non-guaranteed though higher returns from the stock market. The EPFO is the world's largest social security scheme covering 40 million subscribers. It is the government's duty to subsidise it or keep the funds in a special deposit scheme or SDS. Up to 2000 the funds were kept in an SDS at 12 per cent interest. Then this was discontinued. The money that remains in the SDS gets just eight per cent interest, on a par with the public provident fund.
Today there is a deficit of Rs 54,000 crore in the Employees Pension Scheme of the EPFO. This was because incomes and interest rates came down after 2000. The best way forward would be for the government to keep the provident fund investments in SDS and pay a minimum interest of 9.5 per cent.
D L Sachdeva is also National Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress
As told to Sreelatha Menon
Chief Investment Officer, Religare Mutual FundVetri Subramaniam
'Equities are the best hedge against inflation. Return of capital is of no value when the value of that capital is itself eroded'
If I'd known that retirement was going to be this good I'd have done it the day after I left school…
Of course that holds true only when you have a pension that will see you through that period of your life when you cease to work for a living and for an income. In India,the ticket to a golden retirement was a job in the government or public sector where the pension benefits were guaranteed by the state. As participants or recipients of the scheme, one does not worry about the source of the pension payment because it was backed by the state. But the experience from the developed world suggests that this form of a defined benefit pension programme has proved ruinous for both governments and the private sector.
In an acknowledgment of this reality, the government established the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in 2003 that lays down the architecture for a contributory pensions scheme for all individuals. These pension schemes allow investment in equity but this is capped at a maximum of 50 per cent. However, large pools of capital such as the government-run Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) still does not invest in equity despite several proposals to that effect. The EPFO is of the view is that equity is risky and that return of capital is more important that return on capital.
There is no doubt that equity as an asset class is more risky than bonds. This is one of the established principles of finance. But that is only half of the story because the theory and experience indicates that this risk is compensated for by a higher return. Further, it is equally true that equities are the best hedge against inflation that insidiously eats into the true value of our savings. Return of capital is of no value when the value of that capital is itself eroded.
Indian equities have returned over 18 per cent over the last 10 years and 14 per cent over the last 20 years. As anybody who has seen a mutual fund advertisement is well aware in the equity markets the standard disclaimer — past return are not indicative of future returns. So, while this past performance alone cannot be a sufficient basis for the EPFO or for private trusts to make the allocation to equity, it is a good reason to explore the issue in further detail and conceive of systems and processes to manage this risk rather than to avoid it altogether.
Today, the EPFO by its own admission is unable to earn the returns required to meet its obligations. It is worrying that it cannot see the obvious solution — raise the overall return of the portfolio by making a small allocation to equities. A small step in this direction could be made by making allocations only out of the fresh inflows rather than an attempt to change the allocation of the existing corpus. Further, in the early stages the allocation could be made using a passive approach. Once comfort with the system builds, active management styles can be added to the platform.
Using information technology it would be possible to also allow each member to choose the right allocation pattern for his or herself. This would be subject to prudent limits to prevent a member from doing harm to oneself. Experience from the pension industry in the developed world suggests that individualisation and customisation of such a system is a must. A person's asset allocation choice and needs are driven by their age and must take into account their risk tolerance.
The EPFO has over 40 million subscribers and it is time we allowed Indians to invest a part of their retirement savings in the stock market and own a portion of it.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/should-epf-invest-more-money-in-equity/440773/
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Member Balance Service launched on 1st July 2011 as announced on 22/06/2011 by Hon'ble Minister for Labour & Employment and Chairman, CBT, EPF. Read
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http://www.epfindia.com/
2 JUL, 2011, 08.02PM IST, SWATI GUPTA,
e-Payments can help govt save Rs 1 lakh crore
As the uproar against corruption gets louder, it is time the government addresses the core issues affecting effective governance. One of the roots of widespread corruption can be traced to the complexity of government processes.
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A complete overhaul of these processes can be effected only in the long term. Yet, transparency in monetary transactions will go a long way in resolving the problem: the conventional mode of cash or cheque payments is most conducive to delay, leakage, misuse, etc. Fortunately, there are solutions that are already available through electronic payment system.
Government monetary transactions comprise intra-government transactions between departments and with employees, payments to vendors and contractors for goods and services purchased, and the largest set with the citizens, which is also a two-way process: with the government collecting revenue and incurring expenditure through its social programmes.
While India is still far from achieving a full-fledged e-governance system, pilot programmes are running with governments at all levels now acknowledging the necessity of using technology to weed out inefficiencies that have been embedded in government systems for a long time. ICT-driven payment mechanisms provide an avenue for effective administration and delivery of public services, thus keeping a check on rampant corruption.
Planning and monitoring of programmes becomes easier with online record-keeping. There are huge cost savings with a reduction in the number of intermediaries and smoothened processes as well as reduction in delivery time. A deeper penetration of services to rural areas will be possible by harnessing ICT, especially to meet the long-pending goal of financial inclusion: banks can access the financial history of those at the bottom of the pyramid and provide them credit facilities, making financial inclusion a real possibility.
While the central government has initiated some measures, there have also been instances of successful implementation by local government bodies. For instance, adoption of e-payment model in the pension payment system in Jharkhand, farmers in Punjab getting their payments electronically credited to their accounts from the Punjab Foodgrain Corp and the Bihar government taking a small yet laudable step by distributing eZ pay cards to distribute scholarships and honorariums to students in backward communities.
These are just some examples, but they are all standalone initiatives; there is as yet no holistic change in sight. According to a 2010 McKinsey study, Inclusive Growth and Financial Security, a complete solution would directly benefit the nation by Rs 1 lakh crore. The estimate is based on the central government outflow in form of direct cash transactions, subsidies and public services that amounts to Rs 13.3 lakh crore. Of this amount, Rs 1 lakh crore can be saved by switching to electronic payment systems. The largest benefit would accrue to the welfare schemes to the tune of 82% of total savings, the social security system receipts and disbursements would account for about 12% of savings, while around 4% would accrue by e-payment of employees' compensation.
Most public welfare schemes are focused on provisioning services in rural areas targeting poor and marginalised classes. However, preliminary social audits of such schemes have revealed instances of fund embezzlement by intermediaries, presence of false beneficiaries, delays in payments, etc, defying the core objective of such programmes. For instance, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) - the largest of the key government welfare schemes - has faced issues of money disbursement and maintenance of records.
Here, Andhra Pradesh experimented with making electronic payments to workers in some districts using smart cards and has seen the utilisation of MGNREGS funds increase by as much as 25%. As the scope of government schemes is widening with increased fund allocation and expanded beneficiaries, there comes a pressing need for enhancing the role of technology to ensure a more delivery-oriented approach: MGNREGS has a budget allocation of over Rs 40,000 crore for the current financial year, while allocation for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Rs 21,000 crore) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Rs 20,000 crore) were increased to the tune of more than 60% in the last two years. Clearly, a public electronic payment system should now see the light of day in India.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/policy/e-payments-can-help-govt-save-rs-1-lakh-crore/articleshow/9072266.cms
Will back government stand on Lokpal Bill: Congress
The Congress on Saturday said it would support the party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's stand on the anti-graft Lokpal bill.
Briefing the media soon after a meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare , Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said the UPA was a coalition government headed by the Congress and it was incumbent upon the party to support the Lokpal bill "finalised by it".
Describing as "cordial" the meeting between Gandhi and Hazare, along with his civil society team, Dwivedi said the Congress president told the civil society representatives that she would place before her colleagues the issues raised by them.
The Congress general secretary refused to go into details of the issues discussed at the meeting. "We will not discuss specific issues. That is not proper as the matter is being talked about with others," Dwivedi said.
Asked about Hazare's statement to media after the meeting, Dwivedi said: "Whatever Anna has said could be what he has in his mind but nothing of that came before the meeting."
"If a half-baked bill is sent to parliament, what will the parliament discuss?" Hazare said after a 20-minute meeting with Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence.
Anna Hazare meets Sonia, wants comprehensive Lokpal bill
Social reformer Anna Hazare met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here Saturday and told her that the civil society wanted a "comprehensive Lokpal bill" to be sent to parliament.
"If a half-baked bill is sent to parliament, what will the parliament discuss?" Hazare said after a 20-minute meeting with Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence.
Hazare, who was accompanied by his civil society colleague on the joint drafting panel Arvind Kejriwal, said Gandhi assured them that the suggestions of the civil society will be considered.
The government had announced that the anti-graft Lokpal bill will be introduced in the monsoon session of parliament beginning Aug 1.
The meeting comes a day after Hazare and his civil society activists' team met senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders ahead of the all-party meeting scheduled on July 3 to discuss the draft anti-graft Lokpal Bill.
The civil society members met BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani , Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley to garner support for their version of the Jan Lokpal Bill on Friday.
In an endeavor to build a consensus on the Jan Lokpal Bill drafted by the civil society activists, Hazare met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar earlier on Thursday.
He also met Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary AB Bardhan in this regard.
Hazare is meeting political leaders across the board to build a consensus on the Bill that members of the civil society have drafted - a key element of which is to include the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal.
The final meeting between the government and civil society representatives on the Lokpal Bill ended here on June 21 with differences continuing to persist on six issues including bringing the post of the Prime Minister under the purview of Lokpal.
Two sets of drafts- one by the government and the other by the civil society representatives would now be circulated amongst political parties and then would be forwarded to the cabinet for the final drafting of the bill.
he original Anna
Hindustan Times - 28 minutes ago
You could say he is a quitter who always put the nation first. In August 1942, a young Shambhu Dutta Sharma quit his job in the British Indian army to join Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India movement. On January 31, 2011, he quit his fast unto death to allow ...
All-party meet unlikely to give common view on a strong Lokpal
IBNLive.com - 35 minutes ago
PTI | 10:07 PM,Jul 02,2011 Emerging from the 30-minute talks with Gandhi, Hazare said a "proper" draft of Lokpal Bill should go to Parliament and he will respect whatever the House decides as he was not against Parliament or democracy. ...
Anna meets Sonia, says will fast if 'right' draft ignored
Business Standard - 59 minutes ago
Even as social activist Anna Hazare and his team met Congress President Sonia Gandhi here today to seek her support for the Lok Pal Bill, after the meeting, the former threatened to go on a fast again if the 'right draft' was not sent to the Parliament ...
In the meeting that was marked by "cordiality and courtesy", Gandhi assured Hazare that she will apprise the government of their views once more.
more by Sonia Gandhi - 35 minutes ago - IBNLive.com(10 occurrences)
Anna meets Sonia, threatens to fast again
IBNLive.com - 1 hour ago
New Delhi: Anna Hazare threatened to fast if the correct Lokpal Bill wasn't tabled in Parliament, after his meeting with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday. The last communication between civil society member of Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee ...
All set for Sunday Lokpal battle
Times Now.tv - 1 hour ago
The all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow (July 3) is unlikely to come out with a common view on the need for a strong Lokpal legislation with NDA and Left parties playing hardball and the government yet to finalise its ...
Hazare meets Sonia, demands ''proper'' draft be sent to Par
IBNLive.com - 2 hours ago
PTI | 08:07 PM,Jul 02,2011 Kejriwal said that Gandhi told them that she will take a view on these issues.Pranab Mukherjee, who headed the Joint Committee that drafted the Lokpal Bill, and senior Congress leader Mohsina Kidwai were present in the ...
Hazare meets Sonia, parties differ on PM under Lokpal
North India Times - 1 hour ago
New Delhi: Social activist Anna Hazare met Congress president Sonia Gandhi Saturday to seek her support for the Jan Lokpal bill ahead of Sunday's all-party meeting as political parties remained divided over including the prime minister and judiciary ...
Will back government stand on Lokpal Bill: Congress
Economic Times - 4 hours ago
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday said it would support the party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's stand on the anti-graft Lokpal bill. Briefing the media soon after a meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and ...
Anna Hazare lobbies for Lokpal, meets top BJP leaders
Economic Times - 18 hours ago
NEW DELHI: On a day in which anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare and his team of civil society activists met the BJP top brass in an attempt to enlist their backing for their version of the draft Lokpal Bill, a section of leaders of the principal ...
We want strong Lokpal, says BJP after meeting Team Anna
Times of India - 22 hours ago
NEW DELHI: At a time when they seem to be headed for a confrontation with the government, civil society activists led by Anna Hazare found themselves dealing with BJP's queries about their version of the bill on the anti-graft ombudsman. ...
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28 minutes ago - Hindustan TimesSonia has given clarion call to fight corruption: Moily
Jul 1, 2011 - Indian ExpressAnna Hazare knocks on more netas' doors
Jul 1, 2011 - Daily News & AnalysisDigvijay's bizarre logic: Anna's fast should be preceded by agitation
Jun 30, 2011 - Daily News & AnalysisHazare to persuade Sonia on PM's inclusion in lokpal
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Congress opposes bringing PM, higher judiciary under Lokpal Bill
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All related videosProvident Fund and stock market
t is wrong for finance ministry to direct Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to invest in stock market and stop withdrawals for education, house building or buying, marriage and sickness. The money belongs to employees and finance ministry or anyone else has no business to play with it.
The argument that equities give higher return is humbug. There is no guarantee of any return in equities. The timing of the directive, when Sensex is falling, raises questions. Finance ministry is not ready to make up if there is loss. Sometimes share prices increase, sometimes decrease. At one time Sensex was more than 21000 points. Then it came down to less than 8000 points. After that it has been going up and down.
When Atal Behari Vajpayee was Prime Minister UTI invested in shares of an IT company. The value of those shares crashed by 99.8% i.e., for thousand rupees the return was two rupees. PF money can not be put to such risks.
Employees should be free to withdraw their money in case of necessities. To stop them from withdrawing their money for their necessity in unjust. To borrow money from bank they will have to pay interest.
The decision of Central Board of Trustees of EPFO not to invest in is a sound one and they should stick to that. These are days of scams. Investment of PF money in stock market can lead to another scam. Better safe than sorry. One bird in hand is worth two in bush.
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Praful Patel is an economic traitor. As civil aviation minister his actions have led Air India to loss and disaster. There was Indian Airlines. Praful ...
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No negotiations with criminals
http://go4quiz.com/vincent/india/provident-fund-and-stock-market/
No environment clearance to Vedanta
The environment ministry on Saturday denied granting clearance to Anil Aggrawal led Vedanta Aluminum Ltd.
The rebuttal from the ministry came after some reports said that green signal had been given to the project at Lanjigarh in Orissa for bauxite mining, near the Niyamgiri reserve forest.
The ministry said this was not true.
It said the ministry had rejected the request for forest clearance, let alone granting environmental clearance on forest land.
22 APR, 2011, 08.12AM IST,ET BUREAU
Niyamgiri bauxite mining project: SC issues notice to MoEF, Orissa govt, Sterlite
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on the plea of Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) challenging the cancellation of the environmental clearance to the Niyamgiri Bauxite Mining Project in the state.
Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd.
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A bench comprising Justice RV Raveendran and Justice AK Patnaik also sought response from the UK-based Vedanta's Indian arm Sterlite Industries on the issue. The court asked the parties concerned to file their replies within four weeks.
Senior counsel KK Venugopal, on behalf of OMC, said the Centre's order was illegal, arbitrary and in violation of the apex court order of August 2008. It had given a green signal to the project. In a major setback to the UKbased Vedanta group, the Environment Ministry had on August 24 last year rejected the clearance to its $1.7-billion bauxite mining project proposed in Orissa, citing various violation of forest and environmental laws.
It had rejected the clearance to the project citing violations of forest and environmental laws. The government had withdrawn its in-principle approval given to the project in 2007 by the Ministry of Environment and Forest. While turning down the clearance, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had said, "There has been a very serious violation of Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation and Rights Acts by the Orissa Government" as also violation of norms by the company.
The Centre had said just because the ministry had given an in-principle approval to the project in 2007, it could not be treated as fait accompli. The ministry had refused the stage II forest clearance to the state-owned OMC and Sterlite Bauxite mining project in the Niyamgiri Hills area in Lanjigarh, Kalahandi and Rayagadha districts, while accepting the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) recommendation for withdrawal of the forest and environment clearance.
It had also accused Vedanta of having committed several irregularities after the Supreme Court had given a favourable judgement to the project for mining in August 2008.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Niyamgiri-bauxite-mining-project-SC-issues-notice-to-MoEF-Orissa-govt-Sterlite/articleshow/8053692.cms
1 JUL, 2011, 11.04PM IST, ATMADIP RAY,ET BUREAU
West Bengal to raise Rs 1,000 crore from market
KOLKATA: West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra has decided to go to the market for the second time to raise Rs 1,000 crore on July 5.
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The state will issue 10-year state development loan paper by using the Reserve Bank of India auction window to raise the fund.
Besides West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will raise Rs 4,250 crore between them on July 5.
The state government papers will bear interest at the rates determined by RBI at the auctions. Interest will be paid half yearly on January 6 and July 6 of each year till maturity. The stocks will be governed by the provisions of the Government Securities Act, 2006 and Government Securities Regulations, 2007.
Investment in state government papers is eligible for the purpose of calculating statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of banks
Last month, immediately after assuming the power at the Writers' Building, the new West Bengal government has raised Rs 3,000 crore from the market early last month to pay unpaid bills, which the previous Left government kept holding back since November last year.
If the state's proposed fund raising plan sails through, the state will complete gross borrowing of Rs 9,173 crore while the annual target is Rs 17,000 crore for 2011-12.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/west-bengal-to-raise-rs-1000-crore-from-market/articleshow/9068435.cms
1 JUL, 2011, 10.58AM IST,TNN
FDI in retail likely to be approved within weeks
NEW DELHI: After years of debate, foreign direct investment in retail may soon be a reality with a panel of secretaries expected to approve the framework for allowing global retail chains to set up shop in India later this month.
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Allow up to 49% FDI in multi-brand retail: Consumer Affairs Minister
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Government sources said the proposal has gained momentum, with both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee backing it, and chances are that the Cabinet could clear the proposal in August, setting the stage for the entry of large chains by the end of the current financial year.
While a date for the meeting of secretaries would be fixed over the next few days, the outline of the policy has been finalized after two rounds of inter-ministerial consultations. The plan envisages allowing foreign chains such as Walmart and Tesco to hold up to 51% stake in the Indian venture. This is higher than what had been proposed during the first round of consultations.
But there could be areas demarcated for these retailers. For instance, it would be left to state governments to decide whether foreign chains are welcome or not. Similarly, the government intends to allow these chains to operate in large cities only. How large cities are defined remains to be seen. If the cut-off is fixed at one million population, then the retailers can open stores in around 50 cities. But if the bar is raised to 10 million, then only Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata will make the cut.
The move is aimed at countering criticism that the large chains will result in the closure of mom-and-pop stores. Over the years, Opposition parties such as BJP have used livelihood concerns of kirana stores to block FDI in multi-brand retail.
Though the government believes that a large footprint of multi-brand retail chains will boost employment, efforts are also underway to stipulate local sourcing requirements. For instance, the secretaries' panel will discuss a plan to mandate 25-30% sourcing from small and medium enterprises.
In a recent interaction with TOI, economic affairs secretary R Gopalan had said the government could contemplate putting in place rules stipulating majority sourcing from India. But the view in other ministries is that this might not be compatible with the rules prescribed by the World Trade Organisation.
Further, to stay competitive, especially vis-a-vis kirana stores, the organized retailers will be forced to procure from local manufacturers and producers.
Only in case of goods such as electronics or high-technology items that are not manufactured in India or the local producers are not cost-competitive would a retailer opt to import.
In any case, most international players are already in India and have been sourcing for their global requirements or have additionally got into the wholesale cash-and-carry segment where they are not permitted to sell to individuals.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/fdi-in-retail-likely-to-be-approved-within-weeks/articleshow/9060856.cms
2 JUL, 2011, 04.25PM IST,OUR BUREAU
Government likely to discuss sugar de-control next week
PUNE: The Government of India is expected discuss sugar de-control issue in a meeting in next eight to ten days. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said that government is seriously thinking over the demand. While the industry is also upbeat that at least the first phase of sugar de-control is likely to take place soon.
"There is serious thinking in the government of India on sugar de-control. A delegation led by Maharashtra-chief minister recently met the Prime Minister demanding sugar de-control along with other demands like more export of sugar. Sugar is the only sector in which restrictions are still there. The thinking process has started and some pragmatic decision is expected to be taken. There will be in depth decision on all the issues of the sugar industry," said Mr Pawar at the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Deccan Sugar Technologists Association in Pune on Saturday.
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Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan had taken a delegation to meet the PM. Mr Chavan had requested permission to export 20 lakh tonne sugar and de-control of sugar. Sources in the industry said that an informal meeting may take place next week to consider sugar de-control.
The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) believes that the first phase of decontrol is more likely to be implemented. "In the first phase, the government may the obligation of levy quota and the regulated release mechanism," said ISMA director general Abinash Verma.
In the current sugar year, mills are suffering from over production and falling sugar prices below the cost of production. India is expected to have bumper sugar production in the next sugar year October 2011-September 2012.
Meanwhile the agricultural sector is worried about the weakening of the monsoon affecting sowing of major kharif crops like cotton, soyabean, pulses etc. Mr Pawar said, "As per the lasted briefing to my department the July rainfall is expected to be 98%."
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/government-likely-to-discuss-sugar-de-control-next-week/articleshow/9076732.cms
India has attractive business climate for US: State Dept
WASHINGTON: India and the US remain "vital" markets for each other, a top official here has said, refuting reports that American investment in India has dropped.
"We just had a significant deal, if you will, for transport aircraft that's going to significantly boost India's air transport capabilities," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at his daily news conference.
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He was referring to the Indian government's decision to buy 10 C-17 heavy-lift military aircraft from the US at a cost of $ 4.1 billion, the biggest defence deal between the two countries
"Look, India remains a vital market for the US and vice versa. That goes without saying," Toner said yesterday.
His remarks came when asked about reports that claimed the American investment in India has dropped.
India remains an attractive business climate for the US, Toner insisted.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/india-has-attractive-business-climate-for-us-state-dept/articleshow/9073888.cms
Business
Gold dips below 22000 level after 10 weeks,silver sheds Rs350
Times of India - 3 hours ago
PTI | Jul 2, 2011, 07.57pm IST NEW DELHI: Gold prices dipped below Rs 22000 per 10 grams after 10 weeks in the national capital on Saturday on sustained selling by stockists on the back of a weak trend overseas.
Silver falls to Rs. 51850 on heavy sell-off, gold down by Rs. 270The Hindu
Gold dips below 22000 level after 10 weeks, silver sheds Rs 350Hindustan Times
Economic Times - DailyFX - NASDAQ
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TCS has not received any tax scrutiny notice: Ratan Tata
Economic Times - Jul 1, 2011
MUMBAI: IT major TCS's Chairman Ratan Tata today said the company has not received any scrutiny notice from the Income Tax Department for claiming tax benefits on its onshore services.
We have not received any notice from Tax Dept: Tata Hindu Business Line
Tata: Growth Prospects for TCS to Remain Robust Wall Street Journal
Business Standard - The Hindu - Hindustan Times
CAG to go public with audit reports on flagship schemes
Business Standard - Joe C Mathew,Akshat Kaushal - 54 minutes ago
All set for more public interactions even as PM has been critical of the apex auditor recently. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not be happy with the way the apex auditor of the country, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, ...
We have power of unfettered access: CAG Times of India
RIL down 4% after CBI search at premises of ex-DGH head V K Sibal Economic Times
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Marriott Hotels & Resorts enters the Pink City
Economic Times - 6 hours ago
MUMBAI: The international hotel group Marriott Hotels & Resorts has opened a 365-room property in the Pink City. The Jaipur Marriott Hotel is the largest hotel in Rajasthan in terms of number of rooms and meeting space with 43000-sq ft area including ...
Marriott International Inc announces launch of Marriott JaipurTravelBizMonitor
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Vodafone Sees Potential Verizon Wireless Dividend of Up to $5.5 Billion
Bloomberg - Mehul Srivastava - Jun 29, 2011
A pedestrian walks past a Verizon Wireless store in San Francisco, California. Photographer: Ryan Anson/Bloomberg A Vodafone 3G broadband 'dongle' is connected to a laptop computer.
Vodafone may have to pay Rs 3700 crore taxTimes of India
Vodafone to pay $500 mn more for Essar buyoutEconomic Times
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Won't acquire land for industry: Bengal
Business Standard - 54 minutes ago
Political rhetoric dominated the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) annual executive committee meet today, even as two key faces of Mamata Banerjee's administration reiterated the government's stance of not acquiring land ...
FICCI delegation meets Mamata The Hindu
Investors ready to purchase land in WB : FicciIBNLive.com
iNewsOne - Times of India - Moneycontrol.com -Indian Express
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No green nod for mining in Niyamgiri forests
The Hindu - 4 hours ago
PTI The Hindu The Niyamgiri hills is not just rich in bauxite but also maintains the bio diversity for ages. File Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury.
No move to allow mining in Niyamgiri Hindustan Times
Vedanta gets green ministry panel?s nod to mine in Niyamgiri hills Economic Times
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Cairn-Vedanta deal riders upset global investors
Business Standard - Kalpana Pathak -Jul 1, 2011
By giving conditional approval to the Cairn-Vedanta deal, the government might have been able to work things in favour of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), but has left international players in the country upset.
Cairn India profit take to dip $1.68 bn because of govt rider Economic Times
Cairn, Vedanta lower deal value Times of India
Moneycontrol.com - Hindu Business Line -Livemint
LON:VED - NSE:ONGCEmail this story
Subdued monsoon activity in Pune, Mumbai this weekend
Daily News & Analysis - Rahul Chandawarkar -5 hours ago
Pune and Mumbai will continue to experience a lull in monsoon activity over the weekend. The forecast issued by the India meteorological department (IMD) for the next 48 hours indicates only a few ...
Country gets 11% more rainfall in June Times of India
IMD's track record clouds 2011 monsoon forecastBusiness Standard
Hindu Business Line - The Hindu -Wall Street Journal - Livemint
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Maruti Swift Dzire, Zen Estilo, SX4 and A-Star hit!
Business Standard - 6 hours ago
Maruti Suzuki, for the first time in three years, has seen a drop in sales for a particular month. The prolonged strike at its plant at Manesar, affected Maruti's production numbers and sales for the month of June nosedived sharply.
Car sales remain in low gear; hopes pinned on October domain-B
June car sales skid on inflation woes, higher rates & fuel costs Economic Times
Hindu Business Line - Moneycontrol.com -Livemint
BOM:532500 - BOM:532343 - BOM:500570Email this story
CBI books former oil regulator VK Sibal on graft charges
Daily News & Analysis - Pradip R Sagar -15 hours ago
The CBI has charged VK Sibal, former director general of Hydrocarbons (DGH), and six other officials with criminal conspiracy and grant of undue favours to an unnamed private seismic exploration fir.
Former oil regulator Sibal in CBI net for graftdomain-B
CBI files FIR against former DGH VK SibalEconomic Times
Business Standard - Livemint - Times of India -India Today - Wikipedia: KG-D6 Gas Scam
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Property price falls across 7 cities
Business Standard - Jul 1, 2011
Property prices in seven cities across India dropped by 2.63 per cent to 17.6 per cent during the January to March quarter, according to the latest data released by the National Housing Bank (NHB).
NHB Residex records correction in seven citiesIndian Express
NHB aims at higher refinance disbursement in 2011-12 Hindu Business Line
Moneycontrol.com - The Hindu - Livemint -mydigitalfc.com
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HC notices to anti-Posco leader, DGP
Times of India - 10 hours ago
CUTTACK/KENDRAPADA: The Orissa High Court on Friday issued notices to Abhay Sahu, president of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS), chief secretary and DGP in connection with a PIL filed by a group of villagers who alleged they were forcibly ousted ...
Orissa to fulfill demands of Pro-Posco group, work to start next week Economic Times
Dharna against Posco continues The Hindu
Business Standard - Wall Street Journal -Moneycontrol.com - Financial Express
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Exports continue to rise, up 57% in May
Indian Express - 15 hours ago
Bringing some cheer to the economy which is battling high inflation and a possible slowdown, exports surged a whopping 56.9 per cent to $25.9 billion in May.
Exports in May grow 57% to $26b; imports at 4-year high Hindu Business Line
Exports up 57% to $25 bn in May Business Standard
Wall Street Journal - The Hindu -Economic Times - NDTV.com
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ICICI Bank ups rates by 25 bps to counter higher cost of funds
Times of India - 21 hours ago
As a result of this increase interest rates on ICICI Bank's home loans will be 25 basis points higher than its rivals HDFC and State Bank of India, which offer loans at 10.25%.
ICICI Bank raises rates; home, auto loans to cost more NDTV.com
ICICI hikes lending rate by 25 bps to 9.50 pcEconomic Times
Moneycontrol.com - Financial Express -Hindustan Times - Indian Express
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Toyota Etios Liva vs Maruti Suzuki Swift
Business Standard - Srinivas Krishnan -8 hours ago
At a time when an all-new Swift is around the corner (in all likelihood, September 2011), it perhaps does not make sense to compare the Liva with the outgoing model.
Toyota studies feasibility of making Etios' diesel variant Moneycontrol.com
Small cars create big buzz Hindustan Times
The Hindu -CarTradeIndia.com (press release) (blog) -Wheels Unplugged - Mangalorean.com
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Madras HC rules in favour of Ram in 'Hindu' dispute
Livemint - 22 hours ago
Chennai: The Madras high court ruled in favour of The Hindu's editor-in-chief N. Ram on Friday, helping prospects for a reshuffle that seeks to remove founding family members from the 132-year-old newspaper's editorial team.
HC upholds N Ram's succession plan Business Standard
HC sets aside law board stay on Hindu succession Hindustan Times
Moneycontrol.com - Daily News & Analysis
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Sensex snaps 6-day rally as RIL falls
Indian Express - Jul 1, 2011
After touching 19k-mark in intra-day trade, the BSE Sensex snapped a 6-day rally and closed 83 points lower to 18763, triggered by a sharp dip in heavyweight Reliance Industries stock amid reports that CBI searched the house of former DG of ...
Sensex snaps 6-day rally on profit-booking; down 83 pts Times of India
Bears buckling up to hit the market road ExpertsMoneycontrol.com
India Infoline.com - Rediff - Economic Times
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Food inflation falls sharply to 7.78% for week ended June 18
Economic Times - Jun 30, 2011
NEW DELHI: Food inflation fell to a one-and-a-half month low of 7.78 per cent for the week ended June 18 on the back of cheaper vegetables, pulses and potatoes.
Food inflation declines to 7.78% Daily News & Analysis
Fitch: Economy still under inflation woes, more RBI action Moneycontrol.com
Wall Street Journal - Times of India -India Infoline.com
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Food ministry reviewing Pawar's call for food grain exports, says Thomas
fnbnews.com - Irum Khan - 14 hours ago
In response to media reports on minister of food processing industries and agriculture Sharad Pawar's statement on allowing food grains export, KV Thomas, minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution (independent charge),...
Unusual spike in sugar prices to be dealt sternly: Food Ministry Economic Times
Sugar prices to be held till November The Hindu
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02/07/2011
SC-ordered treasure hunt puts fairy tales in shade
Haul worth Rs 30,000 crore so far at Thiruvananthapuram's holiest temple.
Kochi: It is usually only in fairy tales that we read about amazing stockpiles of gold, silver, ornaments and precious stones inside huge underground chambers.
However, the Supreme Court-ordered search of six sealed chambers at Thiruvananthapuram's iconic Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, the subject of earlier reports, is seeing this come true.
As already mentioned, there are two chambers unopened for 150 years and the other four have been sealed since the 1950s. The temple itself was the royal repository-treasury of the erstwhile ruling house of Travancore; the dynasty ruled in the name of the temple since the mid-18th century.
The chambers had not been opened for a variety of reasons and the SC, on a petition that this be done in the national interest, had so ordered, entrusting a committee of seniors, including two retired judges, with the job.
The committee started earlier this week on one and then another of the four chambers sealed since the 1950s. Treasure worth Rs 10,000 crore has come forth. Then they began on one of the two sealed for 150-odd years, termed Chamber 'A'.
Nothing was found on the first day and the search continued yesterday, for secret lockers deeper inside. They then stumbled upon the stockpile, and about Rs 20,000 crore of gold, silver and precious stones was the haul. This is only the estimated physical value; the antique value is considered priceless.
Three sets of gold crowns, supposed to have been worn by the kings of Travancore, including the precious 'Kulasekhara Perumal' one, were found. There were an immense number of gold ornaments, studded with precious stones, and golden rods. Pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds were in huge boxes.
There were heaps of gold in the shape of piled paddy. There were about 1,000 Sarappoli chains, the traditional royal ones; the longest was 18 ft and four of them weighes two kg each. There were piles of golden ropes. In many cases, the boxes and bags in which all these were stored had worn away.
The total weight of chains and necklaces is more than a quintal. There are a huge number of pendants, goldenbatons, 12-layer chains studded with emeralds and rubies. The number of gold and silver coins are around 100,000.
There are also gold waistbands, studded with diamonds, each weighing two kg. Gold and silver bars, each weighing 1-2 kg...the list goes on.
The committee believes there is much more. Citizens speculate that Chamber 'B', the other one unopened for 150 years, will have a similar repository. Experts told Business Standard the valuation of the stones would be tough, as estimating the antique value is a task of some magnitude.
The final haul, one is told, could total the equivalent of Rs 1 lakh crore, and this is only the physical value, not the historical one. The panel does not itself estimate the value of the items; it only weighs and records.
These records will be given to the SC. Security of the temple has been strengthened, photography strictly restricted. The search operations are likely to go on till next week.
Source: Business Standard
02/07/2011
Hazare meets Sonia, wants comprehensive Lokpal bill
New Delhi: Ahead of the all-party meet tomorrow on Lokpal Bill issue, Anna Hazare today had a meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi in which he pressed for inclusion of prime minister and judiciary under the ambit of the legislation.
Emerging after the 30-minute talks, Hazare said that a "proper" draft of Lokpal Bill should go to Parliament and that he will respect whatever the House decides as he was not against Parliament or democracy. The Gandhian, however, threatened to go on an indefinite fast from August 16 if a "proper" draft is not brought before Parliament.
In the meeting that was marked by "cordiality and courtesy", Gandhi assured Hazare that she will apprise the government of their views once more.
NDA to attend meeting on Lokpal bill
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will take part in an all-party meeting on the anti-graft Lokpal bill, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Saturday.
"We will go (for the meeting on Sunday) and convey our viewpoint," Advani said after a meeting of the NDA leaders here. He said the BJP wants that the bill should be such that it results in an effective and strong Lokpal.
Advani said that the Shiv Sena had conveyed that it will not attend the meeting but the party may change its stance after the NDA's decision.
AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, who was present during the parleys, said that no contentious issue, including of bringing the PM and judiciary under Lokpal, figured during the meeting with Gandhi but added that they have no problem with what Hazare chose to say outside about his plans.
After the meeting, Dwivedi told reporters that the party will go by the "final decision that emerges from within the government" and will "welcome whatever view emerges through collective wisdom of Parliament".
Hazare said that he apprised Gandhi of all the issues, which have been discussed with the government as well and Gandhi gave them a patient hearing.
Arvind Kejriwal, who accompanied Hazare in the talks, said that they tried to convince Gandhi why it was necessary to bring the prime minister and the higher judiciary under the ambit of Lokpal. He said that they told Gandhi about the differences in the two versions of the Lokpal Bill.
Will back government stand on Lokpal bill, says Congress
The Congress Saturday said it would support the party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's stand on the anti-graft Lokpal bill.
Briefing the media soon after a meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare, Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi said the UPA was a coalition government headed by the Congress and it was incumbent upon the party to support the Lokpal bill "finalised by it".
Describing as "cordial" the meeting between Gandhi and Hazare, along with his civil society team, Dwivedi said the Congress president told the civil society representatives that she would place before her colleagues the issues raised by them.
The Congress general secretary refused to go into details of the issues discussed at the meeting. "We will not discuss specific issues. That is not proper as the matter is being talked about with others," Dwivedi said.
Asked about Hazare's statement to media after the meeting, Dwivedi said: "Whatever Anna has said could be what he has in his mind but nothing of that came before the meeting."
"If a half-baked bill is sent to parliament, what will the parliament discuss?" Hazare said after a 20-minute meeting with Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence.
Source: PTI & IANS
02/07/2011
I-T dept goes after big fish, salaried to escape scrutiny
The salaried will not face regular income tax scrutiny this year.
New Delhi: A senior Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) official told Business Standard that scrutiny of the salaried increased their workload without giving any substantial benefit. "Selective cases will be picked up only if there is credible information about tax evasion and big investments by any salaried taxpayer," he said.
The income tax department picks up around 1 per cent cases for scrutiny. The decision means that out of 34 million people in the tax net, 15-17.5 million will escape the regular scrutiny process.
The department has already exempted the salaried with taxable income of up to Rs 5 lakh a year from filing returns this year. CBDT had earlier said cases of salaried with annual income of less than Rs 10 lakh and pensioners would not be picked up for scrutiny this year.
The decision is aimed at reducing the workload of officials. The department is already struggling to make sense of the huge information flow from annual information returns (AIRs) on high-value transactions. It also has to deal with information from other sources such as the Central Information Branch (CIB).
CBDT's focus now is to fully use information on high-value transactions to curb tax evasion.
The pieces of information uploaded on the department's system during 2010-11 by CIB alone increased from 44.5 million in 2009-10 to 145.70 million in 2010-11.
Similarly, the department got 6,462 AIRs in 2010-11 with details of 4.38 million high-value transactions. The total value of these transactions is Rs 1,53,28,045 crore.
Officials say the figure is huge probably because it includes bank and other transactions where funds are circulated. Also, the same transaction can be reported by different agencies.
It was pointed out at a recent conference of chief commissioners and directors-general of income tax that though the department had been successful in collecting a large volume of data, the payoff in terms of verification of transactions and detection of tax evasion had been below expectations.
Source: Business Standard
02/07/2011
Weekly Review: Markets advance 3%, FMCG rallies
Mumbai: Markets continued the winning streak for the second consecutive week and ended up 2.8% on back of positive global sentiment and continued buying by foreign institutional investors.
The Nifty commenced the week on a positive note, at 5,440 levels and extended the rally which began last Friday. The index broke the medium term resistance of 5,640 mid-week and tested 5,700 levels at the end of week where the rally lost steam as investors assessed the recent gains.
The S&P CNX Nifty ended the week on a negative note, down 20 points, at 5627. The benchmark Sensex slipped 83 points, at 18,763. However, markets managed to log gains on weekly basis.
There was revival in interest among Foreign Institutional Investors in Indian equities as they were net buyers of Rs 722 crore on Friday, June 29. The FIIs have bought a total of Rs 2,670 crore in Indian equities according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Nifty closed the week above 5,600 which has rekindled the bullish sentiment and analysts expect Nifty to test the 200-Daily Moving Average-5,740 levels in the coming days. Shrikant Chouhan, Senior Vice President (Technical Research), Kotak Securities said, "The Nifty has formed the continuation of the Hammer pattern, which signifies bullish sentiment to continue."
Hammer is price pattern formed by candlestick on technical charts where the stock trades lower than its opening price, but rallies later in the day and closes above its opening levels which indicates that the bulls are gaining strength. Chouhan said, "If the index ends above 5,770, significant short covering will be seen."
Going forward markets will take cues from the Monsoon progress and quarterly earnings which will commence mid-July.
This week the Greece government approved the austerity plan and asset sale which re-ignited interest for riskier assets boosting equities across the world. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei Stock average surged 2%, South Korea's Kospi added 1.7% and China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.5% for the week. Going forward markets will take cues from the European Central Bank meeting where it will decide whether to cut Greek banks from funding facility and European Union retail sales.
Among individual stocks, Reliance Industries which has the highest weightage on Sensex, lost 1% on reports that upstream regulator's house was searched. Cairn India advanced 5% after cabinet gave a conditional nod to Vedanta Resources for acquiring a controlling stake in Cairn India.
From the sectoral indices, BSE FMCG was the top gainer, up 4.2%, as investors bought fundamentally strong shares betting on the domestic consumption theme. The index advanced 164.8 points to 4048 level. Colgate, Marico and Nestle India were up 9.4%, 8.3% and 7.7% each. Frontline stocks like the Hindustan Unilever and ITC, gained 3.9% and 3.4% touching fresh highs.
BSE metal index also added sheen as international metal prices firmed up, the index surged 3.9%, at 15,148. Jindal Saw gained 12% at Rs 161.4, while Hindalco and Welspun Corporation followed at 7.8% and 7.6% each.
BSE Oil& Gas index shed 4.9% at 9038.5. The top gainers include Oil India up 2.1% and BPCL up 1.7%. While the top losers include Petronet LNG down 5.3%, Reliance Industries down 1% and HPCL down 0.3%.
From the broader markets, the BSE Smallcap index gained 3.8% and BSE midcap index advanced 3.5%. From the midcap space Jubilant Life gained 20.3%, Punj Lloyd gained 16.6% and Bajaj India gained 15.5%. Among the smallcap shares Shree Ashtavinayak was up 26.2%, Supreme Infratructure was up 23.67% and Prraneta Industries gained 22.94%.
Top gainers on the Sensex were Hindalco, up 8%, Sterlite Industries gained 6.1% and State Bank of India, up 5.8%. Main losers were Bharti Airtel, down 2%, Reliance Industries down 1% and Wipro down 0.3%.
Source: Business Standard
2 JUL, 2011, 03.08AM IST, FRANK ISLAM,
US investors seek hassle-free entry into Indian economy
WASHINGTON DC: Officially, the mission of Pranab Mukherjee's just-concluded trip was to attend the second annual meeting of the India-US Financial and Economic Partnership. The finance minister brought with him perhaps the most star-studded Indian economic team to visit Washington for a bilateral event.
The delegation included chieftains and key officials of nearly all major economic and regulatory institutions that oversee the $1.5 trillion Indian economy, among them, Reserve Bank of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao and the country's Chief Economic Adviser Kaushik Basu. Similarly, the US side, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, also had heavyweights, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman Mary L Schapiro.
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Their presence made the meeting of the Financial and Economic Partnership, a permanent cabinet-level forum launched last year to discuss bilateral economic and financial regulatory policy, the "highest level economic and financial meeting ever" between India and the United States, as described by a joint statement the two sides issued.
As expected, the policymakers from the two countries discussed a broad spectrum of issues covering all aspects of their economic relations, even though it resulted in no major treaties. That included the challenges both nations are facing during these tough economic times, expansion of bilateral trade and investments, financing of the much needed infrastructure development projects in India, and cooperation in multilateral forums such as G-20 to bring about "sustained, and balanced global growth."
No doubt, at a time when commercial ties have become an important element of their strategic relations, the earnestness both sides showed in gathering such an extraordinary collection of senior policymakers signal how serious they are in taking the ties to the next level. It also reveals the distance India and the United States traveled in advancing their commercial ties since the early 1990s, when New Delhi began implementing market reforms.
As they stated in the join communique, in the past decade, "Indian exports to the United States grew by nearly 180% and American exports to India increased over four times" and "combined bilateral US-India foreign direct investment grew by nearly 165% between 2005 and 2009."
But besides attending Financial and Economic Partnership meeting, Mukherjee had another important mission: reassuring US and global investors about the health of India Inc. Complaints about the direction of the economy had been growing both within India and outside over the past few months. Many were even beginning to ask whether the country can fulfill its vast economic potential under its current leadership.
For the first time in several quarters, the growth rate had fallen below the psychologically important 8% mark. Sustained inflation, corruption charges against several high-ranking officials and, above all, the government's decision to go slow on reform had made investors nervous. The international investors' anxiety was reflected in a decrease in investments in the first half of the year.
The general impression overseas is that while certain issues, such as corruption, were beyond the government's and the finance ministry's control, the responsibility for the slow pace of reform rested squarely with them. Even on inflation, the Reserve Bank of India's decision to raise the interest rate has not won many friends among businesses, who fear that the move might make credit more difficult to obtain.
Throughout his three-day stint in Washington, Mukherjee used the unique bully pulpit this city provided to counter critics and make the case that recent setbacks are an aberration, and that the Indian economy is on the right track.
Indian economy on firm ground
Bullish on India's manufacturing sector: Wilbur Ross
In an interview with ET Now, Wilbur Ross, CEO and Chairman, WL Ross and Co, talks about the US and emerging market economies. Excerpts:- Macro economy in a better shape: Data
- India safe place to invest: Lord Paul
- India's growth to overtake China: Kaushik Basu
- No impact of Greek situation on EMs: UBS
- 'US wants India among top 10 trading partners'
Revival of Air India
'Air India needs 135 planes to rebound'
The projection comes at a time when UPA-II is wondering what to do with 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, whose delivery has not yet started.- Turnaround plan: GoM to meet on July 18
- AI to transfer staff to AISATS from Friday
- No money for salaries: Jadhav tells AI Unions
- Govt asks AI to make long-term plan for revamp
- AI p
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/us-investors-seek-hassle-free-entry-into-indian-economy/articleshow/9071165.cms
EMPLOYEES' PROVIDENT FUND SCHEME 1952
Employee Definition:
"Employee" as defined in Section 2(f) of the Act means any person who is employee for wages in any kind of work manual or otherwise, in or in connection with the work of an establishment and who gets wages directly or indirectly from the employer and includes any person employed by or through a contractor in or in connection with the work of the establishment.
Membership:
All the employees (including casual, part time, Daily wage contract etc.) other then an excluded employee are required to be enrolled as members of the fund the day, the Act comes into force in such establishment.
Basic Wages:
"Basic Wages" means all emoluments which are earned by employee while on duty or on leave or holiday with wages in either case in accordance with the terms of the contract of employment and witch are paid or payable in cash, but dose not include
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The cash value of any food concession;
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Any dearness allowance (that is to say, all cash payment by whatever name called paid to an employee on account of a rise in the cost of living), house rent allowance, overtime allowance, bonus, commission or any other allowance payable to the employee in respect of employment or of work done in such employment.
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Any present made by the employer.
Excluded Employee:
"Exclude Employee" as defined under pare 2(f) of the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme means an employee who having been a member of the fund has withdraw the full amount of accumulation in the fund on retirement from service after attaining the age of 55 years; Or An employee, whose pay exceeds Rs. Five Thousand per month at the time, otherwise entitled to become a member of the fund.
Explanation:
'Pay' includes basic wages with dearness allowance, retaining allowance, (if any) and cash value of food concessions admissible thereon.
Employee Provident Fund Scheme:
Employees' Provident Fund Scheme takes care of following needs of the members:
(i) Retirement (ii) Medical Care (iii) Housing
(iv) Family obligation (v) Education of Children
(vi) Financing of Insurance Polices
How the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme works:
As per amendment-dated 22.9.1997 in the Act, both the employees and employer contribute to the fund at the rate of 12% of the basic wages, dearness allowance and retaining allowance, if any, payable to employees per month. The rate of contribution is 10% in the case of following establishments:
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Any covered establishment with less then 20 employees, for establishments cover prior to 22.9.97.
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Any sick industrial company as defined in clause (O) of Sub-Section (1) of Section 3 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 and which has been declared as such by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction,
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Any establishment which has at the end of any financial year accumulated losses equal to or exceeding its entire net worth and
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Any establishment engaged in manufacturing of (a) jute (b) Breed (d) coir and (e) Guar gum Industries/ Factories. The contribution under the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme by the employee and employer will be as under with effect from 22.9.1997.
Employees' Provident Fund Interest rate:
The rate of interest is fixed by the Central Government in consultation with the Central Board of trustees, Employees' Provident Fund every year during March/April. The interest is credited to the members account on monthly running balance with effect from the last day in each year. The rate of interest for the year 1998-99 has been notified as 12%. The rate of interest for 99-2000 w.e.f. 1.7.'99 was 11% on monthly balances. 2000-2001 CBT recommended 10.25% to be notified by the Government.
Benefits:
A) A member of the provident fund can withdraw full amount at the credit in the fund on retirement from service after attaining the age of 55 year. Full amount in provident fund can also be withdraw by the member under the following circumstance:
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A member who has not attained the age of 55 year at the time of termination of service.
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A member is retired on account of permanent and total disablement due to bodily or mental infirmity.
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On migration from India for permanent settlement abroad or for taking employment abroad.
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In the case of mass or individual retrenchment.
B) In the case of the following contingencies, the payment of provident fund be made after complementing a continuous period of not less than two months immediately preceding the date on which the application for withdrawal is made by the member:
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Where employees of close establishment are transferred to other establishment, which is not covered under the Act:
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Where a member is discharged and is given retrenchment compensation under the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947.
Withdrawal before retirement:
A member can withdraw upto 90% of the amount of provident fund at credit after attaining the age of 54 years or within one year before actual retirement on superannuation whichever is later. Claim application in form 19 may be submitted to the concerned Provident Fund Office.
Accumulations of a deceased member:
Amount of Provident Fund at the credit of the deceased member is payable to nominees/ legal heirs. Claim application in form 20 may be submitted to the concerned Provident Fund Office.
Transfer of Provident Fund account:
Transfer of Provident Fund account from one region to other, from Exempted Provident Fund Trust to Unexampled Fund in a region and vice-versa can be done as per Scheme. Transfer Application in form 13 may be submitted to the concerned Provident Fund Office.
Nomination:
The member of Provident Fund shall make a declaration in Form 2, a nomination conferring the right to receive the amount that may stand to the credit in the fund in the event of death. The member may furnish the particulars concerning himself and his family. These particulars furnished by the member of Provident Fund in Form 2 will help the Organization in the building up the data bank for use in event of death of the member.
Annual Statement of account:
As soon as possible and after the close of each period of currency of contribution, annual statements of accounts will de sent to each member through of the factory or other establishment where the member was last employed. The statement of accounts in the fund will show the opening balance at the beginning of the period, amount contribution during the year, the total amount of interest credited at the end of the period or any withdrawal during the period and the closing balance at the end of the period. Member should satisfy themselves as to the correctness f the annual statement of accounts and any error should be brought through employer to the notice of the correctness Provident Fund Office within 6 months of the receipt of the statement.
http://www.epfindia.com/epf.htm
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Palash Biswas
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