Passive investing in EPF may be soon over

If the changes being considered by the EPFO become a reality, investors may have to be more active in deciding equity preference and when to withdraw money

In recent years, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been enhancing its exposure to equities. This year it will invest 15 per cent of its incremental corpus in this asset class and the rest in fixed income. Now, EPFO is thinking of allotting units to investors for the portion of their corpus invested in equities. There are also plans to allow individual investors to allocate a higher proportion (above 15 per cent) of their EPF corpus in equities. These will have to be accepted by its Central Board of Trustees (CBT). EPF investors need to understand the implications of