The board will reportedly start a two-day meeting on Monday to discuss higher wage-linked pensions, FY23 rates and annual financial estimates.
Posted Date – Mon, 3/27/23 at 03:58pm
Hyderabad: Did you know that the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), which manages the occupational savings of 27.73 crore Indians, continued to invest in Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports even after the group’s shares plummeted following the Hindenburg Research report.
EPFO will continue to invest in Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited until September unless the central board that manages EPFO decides against it, according to a report by The Hindu on Monday.
The board will reportedly start a two-day meeting on Monday to discuss higher wage-linked pensions, FY23 rates and annual financial estimates. The procedures at India’s largest pension fund will be closely followed as they affect millions of people.
EPFO invests 15 percent of its funds in exchange-traded funds or ETFs linked to the Nifty 50 and Sensex, The Hindu reported. The pension fund also allocates 85% of its investments in companies to exchange-traded funds that track the Nifty 50.
As of March 2022, EPFO has invested Rs 15.7 trillion in exchange-traded funds. The Hindu said in its report that the social security institution invested another Rs 8,000 crore in 2022-23, while some other reports suggested that some of these investments in ETFs went to Adani Enterprises Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd. Since the release of Hindenburg Research’s controversial report on January 24, shares in all companies in the group have suffered heavy losses, so the investment may have failed.
As of March 24, Adani Enterprises’ share price has fallen by more than 49% from its price level when it was included in the NSE Nifty 50 in September. It is down 58.5% from its 52-week high of Rs 4,190 reached in December 2022.
Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Limited have reportedly fallen about 19% since the start of 2022 and are down 35% from their 52-week high of Rs 987.80 hit in September.
The Hindu newspaper quoted EPFO trustees as saying they were unaware of the fund’s exposure to Adani shares. According to the newspaper, the matter is likely to be brought up at the two-day EPFO board meeting.
