Subscribers to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) witnessed a rude year-end shock with the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the EPFO setting the interest rate for 2016-17 at 8.65 per cent compared to the earlier 8.8 per cent set for the previous year. The continued reduction of the EPF interest rate is an indication of how the EPFO is not able to manage higher returns from an instrument that is largely invested in fixed return securities. Earlier in 2016, the labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya had mentioned to us that work was on to educate and spread the importance of increasing the EPF contributions towards equities through investments in exchange traded funds (ETFs). The trust had also approved increasing the contribution to the market-linked ETFs for the remaining 2016-17 financial year.