New Delhi, July 20: The central board of trustees deferred for the third time a decision on the interest rate for the Employees’ Provident Fund as most trade unions remained adamant on increasing it to 12 per cent.

Unable to reconcile the demand of the unions with the 8 per cent proposal of the finance ministry in a three-hour meeting today, the board decided to meet again on August 9.

At present, the fund offers a 9.5 per cent return to its three crore subscribers.

Board member and Citu secretary W.R. Vardarajan said: “The meeting was inconclusive and no decision could be reached on the interest rate.”

The board has deferred the decision on two earlier occasions — at its June 30 and July 13 meetings.

In the face of such sharp differences, it is possible that the board will exercise its option of voting to fix the rate. If it comes down to voting, the majority opinion within the board will favour reducing the rate to 8 per cent.

The board is made up of an equal number of representatives from the government, employers and unions. Barring the unions, the others want the rate slashed to keep the fund in good health.

Even within trade unions there are differences of opinion. Barring the Congress-backed Intuc, all the unions, particularly the Left-supported Citu and Aituc, want a 12 per cent return.

The Congress-led government has made it clear the fund will run dry if it has to sustain such a high interest rate.

But labour leaders have petitioned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P. Chidambaram to increase the rate to 12 per cent.

Privately, they say they have pitched the demand high to ensure that at least the present rate of 9.5 per cent is maintained.