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The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) will likely credit the interest on provident fund deposits for the financial year 2020-21 soon, according to reports. Over 6 crore employees will get the benefit by the end of next month.
The retirement body kept the interest rate unchanged on the provident fund deposits at 8.5 per cent for the financial year 2020-21. The decision was taken given more withdrawals and less contribution by the members during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, the EPFO had reduced the interest rate to a seven-year low of 8.5 per cent for 2019-20 last March. The interest rate was 8.65 per cent in 2018-19. The EPFO had provided an 8.55 per cent interest rate to its subscribers for 2017-18. The interest rate was 8.65% in 2016-17.
Net new enrolments with retirement fund body EPFO grew by nearly 20% to 12.37 lakh in February compared to the same month in 2020, according to the payroll data. The provisional payroll data of EPFO highlighted a growing trend with the addition of 12.37 lakh net subscribers during February, the ministry of labour and employment said in a statement. Of the 12.37 lakh net subscribers added during February 2021, around 7.56 lakh were new members.
