EPF interest rate cut ruled out

NEW DELHI: Ruling out a cut in the interest rate on Employees'' Provident Fund (EPF), Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma said that employees should continue to get the existing rate of 9.5 per cent. "I am opposed to it (lowering of EPF rate). It is the employees'' own money....They should get 9.5 per cent interest, and there is no need for lowering it," he said in an interview to "Panchjanya" journal.
To a question, Verma said the Government was considering a proposal for raising the monthly income ceiling of Rs.6,500 for employees for getting ESI benefit.
Admitting that 80,000 Provident Fund cases were pending for clearance, he said certain schemes were being worked out to dispose of 50,000 cases within a year.
Stating that multiplicity of labour laws led to exploitation of workers, he said efforts were underway to reduce their number and make them simple and clear to enable common workers to get justice.