WEST BENGAL CM MAMATA BANERJEE SLAMS CENTRE FOR CUTTING EPFO INTEREST RATES

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday slammed the Centre’s decision to slash the interest rate on Employees’ Provident Fund deposits to a ‘four-decade low’.

In a tweet today, Banerjee wrote, “After the vote victory in UP, BJP government comes out with its gift card immediately! It at once unmasks itself by proposing to slash the interest rate on Employees’ Provident Fund deposits to a four-decade low nadir.” The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Saturday decided to lower the interest on provident fund deposits for 2021-22 to an over four-decade low of 8.1 per cent for its about five crore subscribers, from 8.5 per cent provided in 2020-21.

“This is amidst the pandemic-hit financial stresses of middle and lower-middle-class workers and employees of the country,” Mamata wrote further in a tweet.

Mamata called this move by the Centre as a ‘black initiative’ and said that it must be thwarted by united protests.

She said, “The anti-people, anti-worker step exposes the crudely lopsided public policies of the current central establishment which espouses interests of big capital at the expense of farmers, workers, and middle classes. The black initiative must be thwarted by united protests.”

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO’s) top decision-making body the Central Board of Trustees chaired by Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupendra Yadav on Saturday approved 8.1 per cent interest rate on provident fund (PF) deposits for the financial year 2021-22. This is the lowest interest rate on PF deposits in more than four decades.

In the last two financial years, 2020-21 and 2019-20 the interest rates on PF deposits stood at 8.5 per cent.