New Delhi, July 04: The EPFO on Saturday deferred the
decision on investing 15 per cent of its corpus of about Rs
1.82 lakh crore into equity, a move which could have seen Rs
25,000 crore flowing into the capital markets.
"We would separately look into it (investing funds in
stock markets). Naturally safety and security is the most
important and the returns also important for the employees.
Looking at all those things we (will) decide," Union Labour
Minister M Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters after the meeting
of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT).
The issue, he said, would be taken up in the next meeting
of the CBT, the apex policy making body of the Employees'
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
The Finance Ministry in August last year, had suggested
an investment pattern to EPFO under which the organisation
could park up to 15 per cent of its funds in the companies
listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock
Exchange and also equity-linked schemes of SEBI-regulated
mutual funds.
The proposal to park funds in the stock market, however,
was rejected by the EPFO's advisory body Finance and
Investment Committee at its meeting on March 26.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, July 04, 2009, 19:07