November 12, 2003	Wednesday	Ramazan 16, 1424

KARACHI, Nov 11: Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) has earned Rs3,144.919 million in first three months (July- Sept) of current fiscal and made total investment of Rs71,446.794 million in various portfolios.

It had unrealized capital gain of Rs16.201 million on portfolios held on September 30, 2003, said Chairman EOBI, M. Shafi Malik while talking to APP.

He said the EOBI recorded Rs658.097 million as income from equities.

He said EOBI has started exploring new and more profitable avenues for investment like stock exchange and TFCs. Newly privatized companies were the main investment area of EOBI, Malik said.

The EOBI has established a Trading House here with the objective to face the challenges of excess liquidity, low interest scenario, limited investment options, upcoming maturities and free marketing economy besides improving image of the institution.

The EOBI has also taken over Universal Leasing Company Ltd (ULCL) which has earned Rs4.499 million net profit during first quarter of 2003-04, he said.

He said a feasibility was being prepared to set up Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in collaboration with Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

In addition, he said, EOBI also intended to invest in micro-hydel projects in various areas of the country, however, it needed technical support and collaboration from companies of good repute and added that local companies would be given priority in this regard.

Malik said that the EOBI has taken administrative steps to arrest depletion of funds and improve viability of the scheme which included coverage of all employers in the scheme through map survey and establishing of comprehensive database of employers after collection of information from various sources.

EOBI has transformed an arbitrary system of collection into a fair and just system of collection of contribution on the basis of concrete evidence and inspection to ensure collection of contribution in respect of each insured person.

The registration of companies with the institution has increased by 20 per cent this year.—APP