Govt Employees may Soon be able to Invest up to 50% of their Pension Fund into the Equity Market – PFRDA is also pushing with the government to give the government subscribers the choice of choosing their pension fund manager.
NEW DELHI – Government employees may soon be able to invest up to 50 per cent of their contribution towards the pension fund into the equity market, from the current limit of 15 per cent, pension fund regulator said here on Tuesday.
“It is under government consideration. We have sent a proposal to the government to give the government employees an option to invest up to 50 per cent in equities,” Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) chairman Hemant Contractor told reporters here on the sidelines of a pension fund conference.
He said the PFRDA is also pushing with the government to give the government subscribers the choice of choosing their pension fund manager.
The number of government subscribers currently stands at 45-46 lakh, which accounts for 44 per cent of the total pension fund subscribers.
PFRDA is also looking at guidelines for allowing two per cent of the government pension moneys to flow into alternative investment funds (AIFs) every year, he said.
About the government’s National Pension Scheme, Contractor said that in FY16 alone, NPS has added 1,18,000 subscribers, which is more than the subscribers of previous four years.
“In previous four years till March 31, 2015, NPS had 87,000 subscribers and in 2015-16 alone we have added 1,18,000 new subscribers. Tax breaker though was the kicker for NPS but along with it, many more bank branches were roped in for NPS. We expect the launch of eNPS (online NPS facility) to have contributed substantially,” he said.
The government has made 40 per cent of the NPS tax-free at the time of withdrawal.
About the less successful micro-pension product Atal Pension Yojana (APY), he said that it expects to add 60-70 lakh new subscribers in FY17.
Source: ET
