Rs 6,000 cr EPF money to be invested in equities by March

Hyderabad:  About Rs 6,000 crore of EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund) money would be invested in equities by March 2016 with a view to get higher returns, said Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya.  “This process has already begun. Our portfolio managers, SBI, Reliance and HSBC bank and some other organisations are part of this portfolio management. Through them, we have facilitated the entry of these funds into the market. This is being done for the first time by the Labour Ministry,” he told reporters here.     The investment would begin with 1 % of EPF- related money which could eventually go up to 15%, he said.  “Approximately Rs 8,30,000 crore of EPF-related money is there (with Government). The Finance Minister had said in his Budget speech that portfolio management (of the funds) should not be done by old methods alone and favoured equity participation of 5 to 15%,” Dattatreya said.