- News>
- Economy
EPFO to negotiate with IFCI on interest: Verma
New Delhi, Dec 03: The Employees Provident Fund Organisation will soon start negotiations with the Industrial Finance Corporation (IFCI) on the interest rate which the term lending institution has to pay to EPFO from this fiscal onwards for the next ten years.
New Delhi, Dec 03: The Employees Provident Fund Organisation will soon start negotiations with the Industrial Finance Corporation (IFCI) on the interest rate which the term lending institution has to pay to EPFO from this fiscal onwards for the next ten years.
"I have been asked to negotiate with IFCI (by the central
board of trustees of EPFO)," Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma
told reporters after a marathon four-hours board meeting.
The Minister said he would keep one member each from the employers and employees side for the negotiations with IFCI.
Asked by when the process would start, official sources said the exercise would start soon as the modalities for the formation of the committee was over.
The negotiations comes in the wake of IFCI saying it would be able to pay only 9.0 per cent interest for this fiscal onwards though CBT had, in its meeting, endorsed the view that the Delhi-based term institution, in which the EPFO had over Rs 1,000 crore exposure, should pay 10 per cent for the next 10 years from this year onwards.
"There was a request from the IFCI to cut the interest further (from 10 per cent). Now the committee will negotiate with it," the Minister said, adding it was important for the EPFO to retrieve the money without any problems.
Agreeing for a partial rollover, Verma had earlier said that upto March 2003, IFCI will have to pay the agreed coupon rate ranging from 12-14 per cent.
Asked whether legal action would be taken against IFCI, he said it was already on and IFCI had already paid up the agreed interest till March 2003.
The Minister said he would keep one member each from the employers and employees side for the negotiations with IFCI.
Asked by when the process would start, official sources said the exercise would start soon as the modalities for the formation of the committee was over.
The negotiations comes in the wake of IFCI saying it would be able to pay only 9.0 per cent interest for this fiscal onwards though CBT had, in its meeting, endorsed the view that the Delhi-based term institution, in which the EPFO had over Rs 1,000 crore exposure, should pay 10 per cent for the next 10 years from this year onwards.
"There was a request from the IFCI to cut the interest further (from 10 per cent). Now the committee will negotiate with it," the Minister said, adding it was important for the EPFO to retrieve the money without any problems.
Agreeing for a partial rollover, Verma had earlier said that upto March 2003, IFCI will have to pay the agreed coupon rate ranging from 12-14 per cent.
Asked whether legal action would be taken against IFCI, he said it was already on and IFCI had already paid up the agreed interest till March 2003.
Bureau Report