New Delhi, January 7: The salaried workers might not be happy as the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) may lower its interest rates leading to lower returns. The EPFO might reduce the interest rate offered by 15-25 points for this fiscal. In 2018-2019, the EPFO had offered an interest of 8.65 percent. The revised interest rate is likely to be announced by January 31. EPFO Giving Rs 80,000 to Workers Who Worked Between 1990 And 2019? Know Truth About Viral WhatsApp Message.

According to a report in Livemint, a government official said that this decision has been taken due to economic slump, lower yields on government securities and other similar offerings such as the public provident fund (PPF) and government provident fund (GPF). How to Withdraw PF Amount Online via epfindia.gov.in and Offline: Know Important Rules, Forms & Procedure.

“The economic downturn was visible this year. The falling returns on debt instruments will force the EPFO to tinker its 2019-20 payout downwards. The long-term fixed deposits and some bond yields have gone down by between 50 and 90 basis points in the last one year and you cannot ignore those indicators," an official told Mint.

Another official said that the 10-year benchmark government securities went down between 85 and 90 basic posted between January last year to January 2020. In October 2019, the EPFO had increased the interest rate to 8.65 percent for 2018-19.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 07, 2020 08:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).