New Delhi: Under attack from Left parties for slashing EPF (Employees Provident Fund) rate to 8.5 per cent, Government today (Aug 17, 2004) assured Lok Sabha that it would not hesitate raising the interest rate if there was surplus fund by the end of the financial year.

"No final decision has been taken in this regard if there is surplus fund, then there will definitely be no hesitation on our part to raise the interest rate," Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola said.

The Minister's remarks came at the end of a brief debate on a calling attention notice by CPI (Communist Party of India) leader Gurudas Dasgupta during which the Left parties lashed out at the Government for taking the "unilateral" decision "harming" the interest of lakhs of workers for whom this was the only social security.

Accusing the earlier NDA (National Democratic Alliance) Government of reducing the EPF rate from 12 per cent to nine per cent, he said, "the legacy of the NDA Government is being followed by the present Government."

Seeking to put the ball in the Finance Ministry's court, Ola said, "who am I to increase or decrease the interest rate? This is the job of the Finance Ministry which has pegged it at eight per cent."

The Labour Minister said the interim 8.5 per cent interest rate would leave a deficit of Rs 206 crore. He said the Provident Fund Commissioner has been asked to take urgent steps to recover PF dues so that the deficit can be bridged.