EPFO looks to invest in infrastructure debt fund
Keen to
get better returns on its investments, the Employees’ Provident Fund
Organisation is looking at putting a part of its Rs 5 lakh crore corpus in the
finance ministry’s pet funding option for core sector projects — infrastructure
debt funds (IDF).
The move,
if it goes through, will also help the cash-strapped core sector that requires
an estimated $1 trillion over the next five years.
“If we can
invest in bonds of infrastructure companies such as Power Finance Corporation,
we should also be able to invest in bonds of the IDF. There should not be any
distinction,” a senior EPFO official said.
The EPFO,
through the labour ministry, has already begun talks with the finance ministry
on the issue, the official said. A meeting between secretaries of the two
ministries is expected to take place later this month to discuss easing of the
EPFO’s stringent investment pattern for this purpose.
