EPFO pensioners can submit life certificate till January 15

EPFO invests ₹9,723 crore in exchange traded funds

NEW DELHI: Providing breather to its around 50 lakh pensioners amid difficulties being faced in banks due to demonetisation, retirement fund body EPFO has extended the last date for submission of life certificate till January 15.

“Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has directed its over 120 field offices that the last date for submission of life certificate by pensioners is extended till January 15, 2017,” a senior official said.

“The decision is in line with the central government’s move to extend the date for submission of life certificate till January 15, 2017,” he said.

As per the practice, the EPFO pensioners are required to submit their life certificate by November. In case the pensioners don’t submit their life certificate their pension is stopped.

“The decision is taken in view of heavy work load in banks due to demonetisation. Now pensioners are also allowed to submit their life certificate at over two lakh common service centres across the country,” the official explained.

EPFO also accepts life certificate through Jeevan Pramaan software application through mobile phones. Besides the pensioners can use over two lakh common service centres across country to submit their life certificates.

Earlier this month, the central government had extended the date of submission of life certificate for its pensioners till January 15, 2017.

The EPFO runs three social security scheme -- Employees’ Provident Fund 1952, Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995 and Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976 to provide provident fund, pension and group term insurance to its over four crore subscribers.

Retirement fund body EPFO has invested Rs 9,723 crore in exchange traded funds (ETFS) till October this year while absolute return on these investments was 9.17 per cent, Parliament was informed today.

“The total corpus of Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) was Rs 7.49 Lakh crore as on March 31, 2016. The total amount invested by EPFO in ETFS is Rs 9,723 crore as on October 31, 2016 and the absolute return was 9.17 per cent as on October 31, 2016,” Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in a written reply to Lok Sabha on Monday.

The Minister told the House that as a precautionary measure in volatile stock markets, EPFO is investing only in Nifty and Sensex ETFS.

The Minister also informed the House that investment in ETFS by EPFO will double from the existing level of 5 per cent to 10 per cent within the scope of investment pattern notified by Finance Ministry.

He further said that the employees representatives of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) had opposed the move to invest in capital market.

He explained that returns from investment made in ETFS are generally higher than returns from other investments which eventually benefits the subscribers.