31.7.08

Provident Fund goes Private

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) selected three private fund managers, along with India’s largest commercial bank, State Bank of India, to manage its corpus of Rs 240,000 crore.The organisation’s trustees selected the asset management companies of HSBC, ICICI Prudential and Reliance Capital, along with that of the SBI, to manage the fund that has 44 million members.The finance and investment committee (FIC) of the organisation’s trustees had earlier recommended the three private players as fund managers after they were found to be the lowest bidders, officials said.In April, the EPFO invited bids from state-run and private fund managers to manage its flagship scheme, and it received bids from 22 firms.Until now EPF funds have been managed by state-run SBI, but the government now wants to foster competition.
“Now the fund will be better and professionally managed,” Sudha Pillai, secretary at the ministry of labour and member of the EBP board said.

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