Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s decision to tax the interest earned from provident fund contribution of over Rs 2.5 lakh a year has stirred up a hornet’s nest.
According to a report, an individual has a balance of Rs 103 crore in his PF account, followed by Rs 86 crore.
Here’s a look at the top accounts:
1. Rs 103 crore — An individual’s PF account has Rs 103 crore. If you calculate the interest of the last financial year at 8.5%, then interest earned was just above Rs 8.5 crore.
2. Rs 85.6 crore — The country’s second top PF account got interest of Rs 7, 31,00,000.
3. Rs 72.8 crore — This account earned annual interest of Rs 6,20,50,000.
4. Rs 47 crore — The annual interest on this account would be around Rs 3,99,50,000.
The number of people depositing ‘large amounts’ in provident fund accounts is 1.2 lakh. Around Rs 825 crore is deposited in the accounts of top-20 rich investors.
How much interest did the government pay in the last financial year?
If we talk about only these 20 accounts having deposits of Rs 825 crore, interest on these came to around Rs 70,12,50,000. For the top five accounts, interest stood at Rs 33,57,50,000.