If you don’t claim your PF now, it could end up in government’s kitty

There is more than Rs 43,000 crore of unclaimed provident fund money in India, and the government is considering using it to fund its flagship schemes like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Housing for All. This means that if you don’t claim your PF now, it could be used to fund government schemes in the future.

As per officials, the idea was popped up by government's think tank NITI Aayog, which overlooks the key schemes of Indian government. The idea was proposed so that these projects are not delayed due to lack of funds.

"We are looking into the proposition of taking a loan from EPFO's unclaimed kitty to partially pump money into some of our schemes," a senior official of NITI Aayog told ET requesting anonymity.

The government is yet to decide whether the money would be used in the form of a loan or bonds. The EPFO has already invested the PF amount of more than '7 lakh crore in government securities, bonds, debts and equity.

"We are open to the proposal of lending money to the Centre from the unclaimed PF amount provided we earn higher rate of interest on it," said a senior labour ministry official. "We have the flexibility of parking money anywhere, but it has to backed by some security because this is workers' money which can be claimed at any time," he said.

These flagship programmes require huge amounts of money so that they can be implemented and completed timely, including Rs 2 lakh crore for constructing 12 crore toilets across India by 2019 under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Rs 6 lakh crore to build 6 crore houses under Housing for All programme by 2022.

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