JOIN USThe Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is planning to set a target of 10 million subscribers of National Pension System (NPS) in the current fiscal.
The focus will be on private sector NPS scheme and NPS Swavalamban scheme which makes pension viable for small investors, said Officiating Chairman & Whole Time Member (Finance) R V Verma.
“We are looking at more market participants for distribution of NPS. Increasing penetration of NPS in the market will be the thrust area,” Verma said.
He pointed out that they had total of 6.84 million subscribers till June 7, 2014, and the total Assets Under Management (AUM) stood at Rs 56,000 crore, which was seeing a month-on-month growth of 8-9 per cent. In May 2014, the AUM stood at Rs 51,000 crore.
NPS is the contributory pension scheme launched by the Union government in January 2004. It was made compulsory for all new government employees. Those in the private sector, including those not in any organised sector, were invited to join from 2009.
To be eligible for managing private sector NPS, the entity must be in a registered financial services business, monitored by the authority or the Reserve Bank of India or the Securities and Exchange Board of India or the insurance regulatory body.
It must have a positive net worth (profit) and be engaged in financial business for the preceding five years.
Verma said while the number of subscribers were growing, the need was for it to grow faster. He said that this would be done through providing fiscal and regulatory benefits.