Rahul Gandhi takes potshots at PM Modi for cutting PF interest rate

The Union government’s decision to cut rate on public provident fund (PPF) deposits for 2021-22 has invited criticism from senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

In March, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) The EPFO had proposed cutting down the interest rate on provident fund deposits from 8.5 per cent in 2020-21 to 8.1 per cent for 2021-22.

EPFO is the state-run retirement fund manager and very popular savings scheme for millions of salaried middle-class Indians.

Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, meaning: “Only keeping the address of the house ‘Lok Kalyan Marg’ does not bring welfare to the people. The Prime Minister has implemented the ‘Increase Inflation, Reduce Earnings’ model to ruin the present and future of 6.5 crore employees.”

Gandhi was taking a jibe at PM Modi for changing the name of the official PM’s house from 7 Race Course Road, or 7 RCR, to Lok Kalyan Marg, six years back.

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in March that PF rates which are prevailing is still higher than the rest, adding that the EPFO’s rates had remained unchanged for 40 years and the revision now reflected “today’s realities”.

Sitharaman said that the devolution of state share in central taxes is projected at ₹ 8.17 lakh crore in FY2022-23, and the revised estimate of ₹ 7.45 lakh crore for FY2021-22 has already been already released.