EPFO Mulling To Invest In Private Corporate Bonds

New Delhi: In a bid to maximise yields, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is mulling to invest again in corporate bonds issued by private sector companies.

Interestingly, EPFO was practicing the same before, but for the past two years, it had stopped investing in such bonds after CBT restricted the same.

As per the current investment pattern, the provident fund organisation can invest up to 20 percent of its annual incremental deposits which is around Rs 36,000 crore at present.

As per the several reports, a discussion was held in this regard like when to invest in private-sector bonds and when and how to exit from such investments at the EPFO's Finance Investment and Audit Committee (FIAC) meeting on Wednesday.

According to report by Financial Express, KE Raghunathan, a FIAC member, said that so far no concrete decision has been taken today. The matter is still in discussion.

''We have been discussing the issue since last couple of meetings and today, we extended that discussion and deliberated from various angles of risk versus gain and on aspects of such investments," FE quoted Raghunathan as saying.

In 2019, due to some defaults, which occurred in private sector bonds, the CBT restricted investment in private sector bonds till further orders.

Also read: US Drug Maker Pfizer Expects COVID Product Sales To Top $50 Billion This Year

Also watch: