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PFRDA to review performance of fund managers tomorrow

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) will conduct performance review including the returns generated by the fund managers tomorrow.

“There is meeting tomorrow to review the performance of pension fund managers,” PFRDA Chairman Mr Yogesh Agarwal told PTI.

Currently, 7 pension fund managers are managing assets of about Rs 9,000 crore. Of this, about Rs 100 crore is contributed by pension scheme for persons other than government employees.

These fund managers include LIC Pension Fund Ltd, SBI Pension Funds Ltd, UTI Retirement Solutions, IDFC Pension Fund Management, ICICI Prudential Pension Funds Management, Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund and Reliance Capital Pension Fund.

National Pension System (NPS) was introduced on January 1, 2004 and is mandatory for Central government employees (except armed forces personnel) appointed on or after January 2004.The scheme was made available to all citizens on a voluntary basis from May 1, 2009.

Even though NPS is an immensely beneficial financial product for unorganised sector employees, especially those who do not manage a steady source of income after retirement, it has received lukewarm response till now.

To popularise the scheme, PFRDA in September last year introduced the Swavalamban scheme. Under this scheme, the government contributed Rs 1,000 per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11 and for the next three years, i.e., 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

To be eligible, a person has to make a minimum contribution of Rs 1,000 and maximum contribution of Rs 12,000 per annum.