Retirement fund body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has decided to provide 8.65 percent interest on provident fund deposits for 2018-19 against 8.55 percent in the last year to its six crore subscribers, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said on Thursday.

All members of the Central Board of Trustees of EPFO, at a meeting in New Delhi, agreed to give a higher interest to subscribers for the current fiscal, the minister said.

The proposal would now go to the Finance Ministry for approval, Gangwar said after the CBT meeting.

Earlier, highly-placed sources had indicated that the interest on EPF deposits for this fiscal could be more than 8.55 percent in view of the impending general election.

The CBT, headed by the Labour Minister, is the apex decision-making body of the EPFO which finalises rate of interest on PF deposits for a financial year.

Once approved by the CBT, the proposal requires the concurrence of the Finance Ministry. The interest rate is credited into the subscribers account after the Finance Ministry's approval.

First Hike Since FY16

• The EPFO had provided a five-year low rate of interest of 8.55 percent to its subscribers in 2017-18.
• The body had kept the interest rate at 8.65 percent in 2016-17 and 8.8 percent in 2015-16.
• It provided 8.75 percent interest for 2013-14 as well as 2014-15.
• The rate of interest was 8.5 percent in 2012-13.