MUMBAI: Pension fund regulator PFRDA is set to launch an online
facility for opening of accounts under the National Pension System
(NPS) to net in prospective customers.
"We are set to launch the online on-boarding facility for the
prospective customers of pension schemes under the NPS," PFRDA chairman
Hemant Contractor told reporters on the sidelines of an insurance
summit organised by the industry lobby CII here this evening.
"We have also urged the government to offer tax-breaks to pension
schemes falling on the lines of other financial products like mutual
funds and insurance, to popularise pension products in the unorganised
sector," he said.
The Pension Funds Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA has
sought clarification from the government if the pension products being
run by various fund houses and life insurers can be regulated by it
"We have asked the government to clarify whether we can regulate the
pension business being run by mutual fund houses and life insurers
because the PFRDA Act empowers us to regulate all kinds of pension
business," Contractor said.
On the pension business being managed by the Employees Provident
Fund Organisation ( EPFO), he said it is up to the government to decide
that who will be regulating it.
Commenting on the progress of NPS, he said the NPS corpus has
already crossed Rs 94,000 crore so far, which includes Rs 7,000 crore
from the Atal Pension Yojana.
He further said, "We've already opened 6,80,000 accounts under the
Atal Pension scheme during the past couple of months and we are looking
at taking it to 2 crore by December. Out of these 6,80,000 accounts,
65 per cent subscribers come from urban areas and the rest from the
rural areas."
The three state-owned fund managers, who are managing the Atal Pension scheme funds are UTI, SBI and LIC Pension Fund.
The regulator is getting ready to appoint new fund managers for the
NPS, which has seven active fund managers now and also reviewing fund
management charges.
Contractor also said the regulator is planning to increase the
tenure of NPS fund managers to five years from the present three.
"We don't mind paying a higher commission to incentivise fund
managers and distributors so as to expand the NPS reach. We are
reviewing a proposal in this regard and we will be issuing a request
for proposal to appoint new fund managers within a month," he said.