EPFO advisory body to examine stock exposure hike proposal

New Delhi: The proposal to increase investments in exchange traded funds (ETFs) to 15 per cent from 10 per cent on May 25 will be examined by retirement fund manager EPFO's advisory body Finance, Investment and Audit Committee (FAIC).

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) apex decision-making body Central Board of Trustees will take a final decision on raising investment in ETFs for the current fiscal on the basis of the FAIC recommendations on May 26.
After the CBT approval, the EPFO will be able to park over Rs 15,000 crore in the ETFs in 2017-18 as its investible deposits are around Rs 1 lakh crore every year.
According to a source, the FAIC is scheduled to meet on May 25 where a status report on the EPFO's investment in the ETFs will be presented and views of the members will be sought on raising the same.
As per the status report, the EPFO has invested Rs 21,050 crore in the ETFs till April 2017. Of this, Rs 18,182 crore have been invested through SBI Mutual Fund and Rs 2,868 crore via UTI Mutual Fund.
SBI MF has given an overall return of 110.03 per cent while the UTI MF has earned 7.39 per cent.
The EPFO had invested Rs 15,376.12 crore till March 22, 2017, for which it received a dividend of Rs 234.86 crore.

With PTI Inputs