Government says EPFO, PFs can invest in Bharat Bond ETFs

The government has allowed EPFO and exempted provident fund trusts to invest in Bharat Bond ETFs.

Despite an 8.5% interest rate declared by the EPFO for FY20, these ETFs have yields in the 4.5-6.6% range. Thus experts suggested a transfer of risk to subscribers rather than provident funds through unitisation.

The government had launched four tranches of Bharat Bond ETFs — two in December 2019 and two in mid-2020.

Edelweiss Asset Management manages the ETFs for the government.

The set expiry dates of these ETFs are 2023, 2025, 2030, and 2031 which have a collective size of around Rs 30,000 crore.