The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has kept the interest rates unchanged on provident fund deposits at 8.5 per cent for financial year 2020-21. The announcement comes on the back of large withdrawals and fewer contributions through out the last year amid the coronavirus pandemic. There were speculations that the EPFO would lower interest on provident fund deposits for this fiscal (2020-21) from 8.5 per cent given in 2019-20, owing to the coronavirus-induced slowdown through 2020. The retirement fund body has more than 50 million active subscribers The decision was taken at the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) meeting, which is the main decision-making body of EPFO. The interest rate would be officially notified in the government gazette following which EPFO would credit the rate of interest into the subscribers’ accounts