EPFO continues to invest in Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises despite market rout
New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has continued to invest in two Adani stocks despite the rout following the entire Hindenburg saga. EPFO continues to invest in Adani Ports and Adani Enterprises and will keep doing so till September at least unless the organisation reworks its investment approach in this week’s meeting.
According to a news report, EPFO, which manages the old age savings of 27.73 crore formal sector employees, invests 15 per cent of its corpus into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex.
As of March 2022, EPFO had invested Rs 1.57 lakh crore in ETFs and another Rs 8,000 crore in FY23.
The report comes as EPFO begins its two-day meeting to discuss higher salary-linked pensions, FY23 interest rates and annual financial estimates.
After the rout of Adani Group stocks, experts asked for greater transparency by EPFO. However, trustees of the EPFO told the news site that they were not aware of its Adani stock exposures but might be taken up for discussion during the two-day meet.
Congress reacted to the report and questioned the trustees’ lack of information. “Our HAHK-Hum Adanike Hai Kaun-series had posed 100 questions to the PM on his role in the Adani MahaMegaScam. But it seems new questions are arising. The EPFO Trustees are unaware that crores of their members’ retirement savings are still being invested in 2 Adani firms,” said Congress MP Jairam Ramesh.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was disqualified as an MP last week, said in Hindi: “LIC’s money for Adani, SBI’s money for Adani, EPFO’s money for Adani. Despite the expose on ‘Modani’, why are the retirement funds of the public being invested in Adani companies? Mr Prime Minister, neither is there an investigation nor are there answers. Why are you so scared?”
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also said: “So seems like the major investors in the group that are left post the rout are nationalised banks, retirement funds (EPFO), insurance funds (LIC) — read as — people’s hard earned money, Mauritius based dubious companies & most recent entrant GQG?”
Meanwhile, the retirement fund body, during its two-day meeting on March 27 and 28, is expected to reveal the rate of interest on the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for 2022-23, discuss the annual accounts, and discuss the EPFO’s response to the Supreme Court’s order to give Workers’ Pension Scheme 1995 subscribers a four-month window to choose a higher pension.
