Ministry of Labour & Employment
CBT Approves Proposal TO Recommend Amendment in EPS 1995
225th Meeting OF CBT Held on 21st August, 2019 at Hyderabad
Posted On:
22 AUG 2019 12:25PM by PIB Delhi
In a major decision, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) EPF in a meeting held at Hyderabad on 21 August 2019, approved the proposal to recommend for amendment in Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS)
1995 for restoration of commuted value of pension to the Pensioners
after 15 years of drawing commutation which will benefit approx. 6.3
lakhs pensioners. This was a long pending demand of the pensioners.
The Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar who is also Chairman CBT, while addressing the CBT expressed satisfaction that Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)
is settling more than 91 % claims of EPF members in online mode and
lauded the efforts made to improve services for settlement of claims of
family of deceased members and EPF call centre function 24 by 7.
He
also appreciated the good governance strategy adopted by EPFO in saving
of Rs.22 crores p.a. due to negotiating reduced OD charges increased FD
interest and waiver of collection charges by SBI and further savings of
Rs.50 lakhs p.a. due to reduction in collection charges by three banks
and achievement of highest yield (8.55%) by Portfolio Managers since
July 2015.
The
Minister released the educative booklet on seasonal employees regarding
special provision in EPS’1995 regarding eligibility of seasonal
employees for pension. The contents of booklet brings out the Scheme
provision that contributory service in any year, even if contributory
period is less than a year is treated as full year of eligible service
for seasonal employee and this will help dispel doubts in minds of
members/employers.
The
Chairman CBT also launched the revamped EPFIGMS 2.0 version which will
benefit more than 5 crores subscribers and lakhs of employers by speedy
and smooth resolution of grievances.
The
Board approved the proposal for Selection and Performance Evaluation of
next Custodian by the new Consultant which will be appointed on the
basis of Report of Five Members’ Committee constituted by the CBT for
the purpose.
In
the matter of coupon default of IL&FS Ltd, the Board nominated
three officers of Investment Division of EPFO to attend the Debenture –
Holders’ Meeting that may be held in future and if need be, vote on
behalf of the Central Board, EPF.
Selection of ETF Manufacturers: The Board approved the decision to choose the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
manufacturers through public bidding by 30/10/2019, extension of the
term of the present ETF manufacturers (SBI MF and UTI MF) till then and
also to authorized the Finance Investment & Audit Committee (FIAC) to conduct the exercise of choosing ETF manufacturers.
Allocation of investment in Nifty 50 and Sensex: The
Board approved the proposal that the fund allocation between Nifty 50
and Sensex ETFs be divided evenly, i.e. in the ratio of 50% to 50%.
Appointment of a Consultant in addition to M/s. CRISIL Ltd: The
Board approved the nomination of members from employer’s and employee
side in a Committee constituted to select and appoint a separate
Agency/Consultant in addition to M/s. CRISIL limited, inter-alia to
review the working of the Portfolio Managers (PMs), assist the
investment Committee in redemption of ETFs, etc.
Appointment of Portfolio Managers for managing funds of Central Board, EPF: The
Central Board approved Request for Proposal (RFP) document for
appointment of Portfolio Managers and recommendation of the FIAC on
appointment of Portfolio Managers.
Exercise of early redemption options available in DHFL Bonds: The Board approved for early redemption option in DHFL bonds recommended by FIAC.
Consent for Transfer of Non- Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of GSPC to GSIL: EPFO
has total investment of Rs.2300 Cr in GSPC NCDs. The Board approved the
transfer of NCDs of GSPC to GSIL, a wholly owned subsidiary of Govt. of
Gujarat and a better rated company which had made an offer to take over
debt of GSPC with budgetary support of Government of Gujarat
Legal Entity Identifier Code (LEI) for participation in non- derivative markets by EPFO: In
Nov’18, the Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) issued advisory to all eligible
market participants in the Financial Markets to obtain LEI Code. The
Board approved the nomination of the EPFO Officers as the authorized
Officials to obtain LEI Code.
Withholding Investments in bonds of private sector companies: The
CBT approved the decision to withhold any further investment in Private
Sector Companies Bonds and to compulsorily consider one of the two
required ratings necessarily from CRISIL, CARE, ICRA & India Ratings
for investments in PSU Bonds category.
The
Board ratified the decision of put option in NCDs of Tamil Nadu Power
Finance Corporation and also approved put option in bond issued Kerala
Finance Corporation & Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Dev. Corp. Ltd.
Shri
Raghunathan, Employees' Representative on the Central Board, EPF
appreciated the efforts of the Finance Investment & Audit Committee
chaired by the Central Provident Fund Commissioner in finalizing the new
Portfolio Managers for investing EPFO's corpus through a very
transparent procedure. He further informed the Board that while SBI's
Fund Management Arm has quoted 94% lesser than SBI PMS in the last
mandate, UTI AMC has quoted 28% lesser. This would result in huge
savings in portfolio management fees by EPFO.
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