EPFO’s CBT to meet on February 28, interest rate discussion likely

The Central Board of Trustees of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation is set to meet on February 28 with the interest rate on provident fund deposits for 2024-25 likely to be the top agenda item.
The formal agenda for the meeting is yet to be circulated; sources indicated that finalising the interest rate for the current fiscal will be on the cards as no decision has been taken on it till now.

“The 237th meeting of the CBT of the EPF is scheduled to be held on February 28,” said an official missive.  The CBT, led by the Union Minister for Labour and Employment, is the apex decision making body of the EPFO and consists of representatives from employers’ associations as well as trade unions along with state and central government officials.

The EPFO had fixed a rate of 8.25% on PF deposits for the fiscal year 2023-24 from 8.15% in the previous 2022-23.

The CBT had last met on November 30, 2024 wherein it decided that the interest will be paid to the member upto the date of settlement. Till now, interest-bearing claims were not processed between the 25th and the end of each month to avoid loss of interest to the members. “After this decision, these claims will be processed for the entire month leading to reduced pendency, timely settlement and optimized utilization of resources,” an official release had explained.

As per the EPFO’s Annual Report 2023-24, which was also approved by the CBT in its last meeting, the retirement fund body registered a 6.6% increase in the number of contributing establishments to 7.66 lakh from 7.18 lakh in 2022-23. The number of contributing members grew by 7.6% to 7.37 crore in 2023-24 from 6.85 crore in 2022-23.