Not only was the equity investment issue sidetracked during the board meeting on November 7 (a day after Fernandes met the PM and Finance Minister P Chidambaram), the Labour Ministry didn’t even take note of the Finance Ministry’s views on the EPF interest rate and the proposal to introduce equity investments into EPFO, while drafting the board meeting’s minutes.

The PM as well as Chidambaram had made it clear to Fernandes before the board meeting that the rate should not be more than what the EPFO can afford and should be pegged at eight per cent in line with this year’s income. In fact, the PM had asked Fernandes to ensure that the long-pending proposal to invest five per cent of the EPF monies into equities gets cleared before discussing the PF rate.

Surprisingly, the minutes of the meeting circulated later by the Labour Ministry didn’t include the views of a senior Finance Ministry official present. Perturbed, the Department of Economic Affairs has recently shot off a letter to Labour Ministry officials asking for their views to be incorporated in the final minutes.

Specifically, the DEA wants to reiterate and put its view on the EPF rate debate on the record. “The payment of the rate of interest has to be on the basis of the earnings on the assets and there should be a balance between these two components. Hence, the payment of interest cannot exceed the earnings,” the DEA’s letter stresses.

Moreover, on the equity investment proposal, a suggestion made by the Finance Ministry was also not taken note of. In order to better understand the impact of equity investments on the EPF’s earnings, the Finance Ministry official had “suggested that a study may be carried out about the private funds (PF trusts) that have invested in equity and the consequent returns”. The DEA has asked the Labour Ministry to incorporate this suggestion in the minutes as well.

The revised investment pattern that allows upto five per cent investment of EPF monies in stocks was notified back in January 2005. To counter the objections from employee representatives on the board, the PM had advised Fernandes to tell the board, “You want a higher interest rate for EPF, but when it comes to making investments, you block any proposals that can help earn higher returns”.

After November 7, the EPF board has met one more time earlier this month, but neither of the two issues could be resolved as Fernandes had to leave the meeting midway. Another meeting is scheduled in early January.