India's Pension Fund Says Will Not Directly Enter Low Cost Housing Market
New Delhi: Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya today clarified that the retirement fund body EPFO will not construct houses, but become a facilitator for its over four crore members so that they can buy homes. Labour Ministry intends to facilitate at least 10 lakh subscribers in the period of next two year by allowing them to use 90 per cent of EPF accumulations to make down payments to buy houses and use their accounts for paying EMIs of home loans.
"For housing, the EPFO has nothing to do with construction of houses. It is their (subscribers) responsibility," Dattatreya replied when asked whether the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) would build low cost homes for their subscribers.
Elaborating further about the recent amendment in the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme 1952 for facilitating members to buy homes, the minister said, "The scheme also aims to fulfil the Prime Minister's vision of 'Housing for All By 2022'. Our EPFO subscribers will be the beneficiary of this scheme. We have 4.31 crore EPFO subscribers.
We have framed norms for forming group housing societies." Earlier, certain section of media had reported that the EPFO will build 10 lakh homes in the next two year time for its subscribers and the body would join hands with Ministry of Urban Development for the purpose.
The minister said, "The scheme can be availed by the subscribers getting monthly basic wages of below Rs 15,000. The scheme will be aligned with the urban development ministry (programmes) and other organisations because Government of India is also giving subsidy of Rs 1.5 lakh to weaker sections (to buy houses)."
He said that the government is also providing interest subsidy for certain section of people for buying home and all benefits can be clubbed together. The minister also talked about the proposal of raising wage ceiling for coverage under the EPFO from existing Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000, which would be shortly taken up in next meeting of body's trustees.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
-
Signature Play: The Classic Cocktail Is Dead. Or Is It?
Classic cocktails are disappearing from India's cocktail menus. But they're still being ordered, taught to bartenders and borrowed from. So, who's really having the last drink?
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
