PFRDA – Fund Collection in the Name of National Pension System….
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Features of New Pension Bill
1: The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill 2011 will give statutory powers Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) which was established in August 2003 as a regulator for the pension sector.
2: The bill allows 26% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the pension sector or such percentage as may be approved for the insurance sector, whichever is higher. At least one of the pension fund managers shall be from the public sector.
3: The subscriber seeking minimum assured returns shall be allowed to opt for investing their funds in such scheme providing minimum assured returns as may be notified by the authority.
4: Withdrawals will be permitted from the individual pension account subject to the conditions, such as, purpose, frequency and limits, as may be specified by the regulations.
5: This bill would also provide subscribers a wide choice to invest their funds including for assured returns by opting for government bonds etc as well as in other funds depending on their capacity to take risk.
6: The passage of the bill could see pure pension products coming into the market. At present most of the pure pension products available in the market are linked with insurance coverage.
7: In 2005, the government had earlier introduced a pension bill but it lapsed as the Lok Sabha's term got over before the legislation could be passed.
8: The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill 2011 was reintroduced in the Lok Sabha in 2011 by the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and it was subsequently referred to a standing committee.
9: PFRDA's National Pension System (NPS) was made mandatory for all new government recruits, except armed forces, joining after January 1, 2004.
10: The NPS was later opened up to all Indian citizens from 2009 on a voluntary basis.
12: The pension bill could help channelize funds into building long-term assets for the country, including the infrastructure sector. The government wants to ease rules for insurance and pension sectors to allow them to invest in infrastructure, where it is seeking $1 trillion investment till 2017.
Interim pension regulator PFRDA on Thursday (22-07-2010) introduced a new scheme, NSP Lite, for the economically deprived sections of the society. The scheme aims at building up a corpus sufficient enough to buy an annuity for their old age.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech had said the government would contribute Rs 1,000 annually to each NPS account opened in 2010-11.
Initially, the government launched the New Pension System for central government employees joining service from January 1, 2004, but it was extended to all citizens from May 1, 2009
source:economictimes
New Pension Scheme - PFRDA may raise allocations for pension fund managers
The Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) is likely to allocate Rs 4,100 crore in 2010-11 among the three pension managers, State Bank of India, UTI Mutual Fund and LIC Mutual Fund. Last year, the regulator had allocated Rs 3,700 crore.
The corpus would mainly be the contribution of central and state government employees. At present, 25 states have signed up for the new pension scheme (NPS).
The NPS’ board of trustees decided to review the allocation formula. The allocations will be decided on the basis of the managers’ performance over the past year. According to PFRDA’s website, SBI’s pension fund had the highest net asset value (NAV) under central government schemes. As on April 23, SBI pension fund had an NAV of Rs 12.82 for central government employees, while UTI Retirement Solutions posted an NAV of Rs 12.38. LIC Pension Fund’s NAV was Rs 12.41.
The final decision will be taken by the NPS’ board of trustees on Monday. Last year, SBI had got 40 per cent, UTI MF 31 per cent and LIC MF 29 per cent.
Pension regulator hardsells new scheme for New Pension Scheme
The Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) is taking ing various measures to increase the number of subscribers under its New Pension Scheme (NPS). It is in discussions with the General Insurance Council, various industry bodies and companies to offer the plan to their employees. Under the recent deal between the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the pension regulator, all new recruits of banks will join the defined contribution system from April 1, 2010. Already 20 nationalised and 12 private sector banks have joined the new system.
National Aluminium Co (Nalco) was the first public sector entity to join NPS. While 24 per cent of Nalco employees’ salary will go towards Employees Provident Fund, 6 per cent will be invested in NPS. PFRDA has written to the department of public enterprises to enable all central public sector undertakings (PSUs) to bring their 1.5 million workers into the NPS fold. Sources said BHEL, NTPC and DVC are next in line to join NPS.
PFRDA- Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
As the launch of the New Pension System approaches, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) remains keen that the India Posts hops on to the pension bandwagon as one of the points of presence (PoPs).
Though the first round of licencing of PoPs have been completed, with 23 entities having already been given the nod, the pension regulator is willing to throw open the window for the India Posts if it is willing to join. The authority feels that India Posts can provide a reach to the new system that no other established set up can do. The NPS is to be launched on May 1, 2009.
The authority had said that all such branches should have demonstrable capability to electronically transmit NPS subscriber’s contribution and information on at least T+1 (within one day of the transaction).
The PFRDA had said that branches of licenced entities that are providing PoP services must conform to the information technology infrastructure and have the capacity to electronically link with the central record-keeping agency.