EPFO continues to invest in Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises despite the recent rout
The EPFO board is meeting on March 27 and 28 to discuss the higher salary-linked pension, FY23 interest rates and annual financial estimates. Its investment in Adani stocks could be taken up for discussion
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), which manages old-age savings of 27.73 crore Indians, continues to invest in Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports even after the port-to-energy conglomerate’s stocks were pounded rout following a damaging short-seller report.
According to a report in The Hindu on March 27, the subscribers are the captive investors because the two stocks are part of the Sensex and the Nifty that are tracked by EPFO-managed funds.
The EPFO invests 15 percent of its corpus in exchange-traded funds, the report said. As of March 2022, it had invested Rs 1.57 lakh crore in ETFs. It put in another Rs 8,000 crore in FY23, The Hindu said.
The US-based Hindenburg Research in late January accused the Adani group of widespread manipulations and malpractices to inflate its stock prices. The Gautam Adani-led group denied the claims but that did little to prevent the hammering of its stocks.
The Hindu’s report comes on the day the Central Board of Trustees, which manages EPFO, begins its two-day meeting to discuss higher salary-linked pension, FY23 interest rates and annual financial estimates. The proceedings of India’s largest retirement fund will be closely tracked as they affect millions of people.
The EPFO will continue to invest in the two Adani stocks unless the trust decides against it during the meeting, The Hindu said.
After the hammering of the Adani group stocks, experts called for greater transparency and accountability in the investment decisions made by EPFO. Some have suggested diversifying the investment portfolio to yield better returns in the long term.
The 233rd meeting of the CBT, chaired by Union labour and employment minister Bhupender Yadav, was scheduled for March 25-26 but was pushed back.
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