Looking to maximise yields, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is likely to start investing again in corporate bonds issued by private sector companies, after a gap of over two years.
As per the current investment pattern, the EPFO can invest up to 20 per cent of its annual incremental deposits — around Rs 36,000 crore at present — in corporate bonds. But the investments have in recent years been restricted to bonds of public sector companies. Options like when to invest in private-sector bonds and when and how to exit from such investments were discussed at the retirement fund body’s Finance Investment and Audit Committee (FIAC) meeting on Wednesday.