New Delhi: The finance and investment subcommittee of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) yesterday recommended a reduction ranging between 0.5 and 1.5 percentage points in interest rate on EPF from the existing 9.5 per cent.

The chairman of the subcommittee and additional secretary in the ministry of labour, Baleshwar Rai, said after the meeting the committee has recommended an interest rate in the range of 8-9 per cent on EPF.

These recommendations will now be placed before the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the EPFO scheduled to meet on 31 May 2003 to take a final view on the rate of interest payable for provident fund deposits.

The recommendation of the subcommittee of the CBT comes in the wake of the 1-percentage point cut in interest rates to 8 per cent in the Special Deposits Scheme, which comprises over 80 per cent of the Rs 1,40,000-crore EPFO corpus and a general lowering of bank rates.