NPS - National Pension System

News About NPS

• NPS equity funds of HDFC, ICICI Pru pension top the performance chart

  The highest returns across three to five years periods were delivered by the HDFC Pension Fund’s equity scheme managing to beat large-cap equity funds. It posted 11.89% and 14.51% returns respectively across the two time-periods, followed by ICICI Prudential Pension Fund with 11.2% and 13.32% respectively for the same period.

  However, both scheme were unable to beat Nifty 50 TRI, which recorded 12.91% and 14.65%percent returns respectively over three- and five-year periods. LIC Pension Fund recorded returns of 9.57% and 12.24% over three and five years respectively.

  11 May 2021

• Now, you can avail Aadhaar-based online KYC process to open NPS account

  The process to open a National Pension System (NPS) account has become simpler and hassle-free amid the coronavirus pandemic. As per a press release, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has now granted the permission to allow the Aadhaar-based online KYC process under the NPS for new users. 

  A Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) will be offered to the users with the online Aadhaar e-KYC and it will simplify the process of account opening. 

  Given below is the process for subscriber registration through Aadhaar based eKYC on eNPS platform 

  • Visit the e-NPS portal to open an NPS account online using Aadhaar. 
  • You will be required to click on “National Pension System" and then on the “Registration" option. 
  • You will then have to select the category of account opening - ‘Individual Subscriber’ or ‘Corporate Subscriber’ category. 
  • Select ‘Citizen of India’ or ‘Non-Resident of India (NRI)’ or ‘Overseas Citizen of India (OCI)’. 
  • Select the ‘Aadhaar Online/Offline KYC’ option and select the ‘Tier types’ for the opening of account. 
  • Select and provide ‘Aadhaar’ (12-digit) or ‘Virtual ID’ (16-digit) number provided by UIDAI and click ‘Generate OTP’.  
  • After submission of OTP, details such as your name, gender, date of birth, address, etc. will be retrieved from Aadhaar records. 
  • You will be required to make an NPS contribution and complete the digital registration process through digital authentication. 

  30 April 2021

• NPS fees set to go up from 1 April 2021

  The pension fund managers (PFMs) have been given permission by The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to charge higher fees from 1 April 2021. The regulators had proposed that the fee be increased in a Request for Proposals (RFP) in 2020.

  The pension sector is likely to get a significant boost as the FDI in the insurance sector will be hiked from 49% to 74%.

  In another news, five pension fund-based companies - SBI Pension Fund Pvt Ltd, UTI Retirement Solutions Ltd, HDFC Pension Fund Company Ltd, LIC Pension Fund Ltd, and ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Management Company Ltd have been given the license along with the permission to charge fees as per the applicable cap.

  24 March 2021

• e-KYC to be started for NPS subscribers

  The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has received approval to implement online Know Your Customer (e-KYC services) for subscribers of the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) scheme. The permission was granted from the Department of Revenue. This will simplify the account opening process for subscribers. While NPS is geared towards the organised sector, APY is geared towards the unorganised sector. There will be paperless on-boarding, OTP-based authentication, e-sign-based authentication, online enrolment for government employees, video customer identification for remote on-boarding, and other features implemented soon.

  09 Feb 2021

• Subscribers of the NPS scheme will be able to choose to opt-out through an offline process

  The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority has given a proposal to offer subscribers of the National Pension Scheme an additional option to exit from the scheme through self-authorisation.

  For this process, the subscribers who have a corpus of up to Rs.10 lakh will have to provide their Aadhaar details offline to exit from the scheme. The subscribers can also opt to exit via an online process by visiting the NSDL website or offline, by filling up with the form of physical withdrawal and submitting it to the respective Nodal Officer.

  29 Dec 2020

• PFRDA will start to separate from NPS in next fiscal year

  The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) will start separation of the National Pension System (NPS) Trust from itself in the next fiscal year. The proposal to separate the pension regulator from the NPS was put forward by the government in the Union Budget for 2019-20. This was to address issues of conflict of interest between the two. A deadline of 31 March, 2021 has been set for a consultancy to start the process. The consultancy would examine and recommend changes in the structure of the organisation, requirements for technological systems, responsibilities, and segregation of responsibilities and roles of the NPS Trust. It will also have to identify the specific areas of inter-linkages between the NPS Trust and the PFRDA.

  19 Nov 2020

• Now subscribe to NPS via video KYC

  The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has allowed registered intermediaries to use Video-based Customer Identification Process (VCIP) to make the process to onboard the National Pension System (NPS) simple, faster and cost-effective. The verification of the subscriber can be done without the physical presence before the Point of Presence (PoP). This move will not only help in expanding the reach of NPS due to the account opening being paperless, it will also help in speedy account closure as well.

  The option for VCIP will be available to NPS subscribers in addition to the existing options including OTP or eSign-based onboarding, Aadhaar based onboarding through offline channels, e-nomination and e-exit for eNPS subscribers.

  03 Nov 2020

• Pension scheme with minimum assured returns to be launched by PFRDA in 2022

  The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) will launch a new pension scheme that guarantees minimum assured returns from FY22. This was announced by the organisations’s chairman, Supratim Bandyopadhyay. As of now, the National Pension Scheme (NPS) is market determined and based on defined contribution. Minimum returns are only offered by the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), which is under the umbrella of the NPS, and is aimed at workers from unorganised, low-income sectors.

  23 Oct 2020

• 12% NPS return delivered in one year

  The National Pension Scheme is now becoming a common choice for a lot of Indians as they are giving out impressive returns. The Tier-II account of the NPS had also outperformed most of the fixed-income investments in the past. With returns of 11.89%, around 12%, over the past one year, Scheme G of NPS Tier II has also outperformed the liquid debt mutual funds. It has also outperformed the savings bank fixed deposits.

  22 Oct 2020

• Access your National Pension System account from your house

  If you are looking to open a National Pension System account, you can do this from your house. The Development Authority (PFRDA) and Pension Fund Regulatory have now enabled a video-based process for customer identification. This has been done to facilitate on-boarding, exit and withdrawals for all NPS subscribers.

  PFRDA has been launching a lot of new processes for subscriber authentication for National Pension System. These are offline Aadhaar-based on-boarding, and OTP/ eSign based onboarding. This also includes e-nomination, e-exit for eNPS subscribers and also, third party reliance for KYC.

  13 Oct 2020

• NPS G-sec fund touches double digits for the first time in over 5 years

  The National Pension System’s (NPS) government security funds turned in with impressive numbers at a time when other funds are not having the best of times.

  All NPS fund managers’ scheme G (Tier I account) returns have beaten CCIL All Sovereign Bond TRI benchmark across three and five-year periods, according to a data from Value Research. 9.22% to 10.68% annually over three years have been delivered by G-sec funds as compared to the benchmark’s 9.13% returns during the same time period.

  LIC Pension Fund was the biggest winner in this category, as it clocked double-digit return of 10.68%. The next funds to impress were SBI Pension Fund and ICICI Prudential Pension Fund, with 9.91% and 9.67% returns respectively over a three-year period. On the bottom of the list was UTI Retirement Solutions after it recorded returns of 9.22%. However, the fund still managed to beat the benchmark.

  28 Sept 2020

• PFRDA says total assets under management of National Pension Scheme and APY approaching a corpus of Rs.5 lakh crore

  The Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has stated that the total assets under management of the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is approaching towards a corpus of Rs.5 lakh crore. Speaking at the 22^nd CII Insurance and Pensions Summit, he stated that 83 percent of the total assets are from central and state government employees.

  As per the latest data, the total number of subscribers for the schemes stood at 3.68 crore. The PFRDA chairman also added that APY has seen a good growth in the number of new subscribers. During the period between April and August, the scheme saw about 2 million new subscribers' while in the first 15-16 days of September another 4 lakh were added.

  22 Sept 2020

• NPS contributions see an increase of over 6 percent in the first quarter of the first fiscal

  While thousands have lost their jobs because of the lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, contributions to the National Pension Scheme (NPS) recorded an increase of over 6 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal. Official data have highlighted that the subscriber base of the scheme saw an increase of 1.5 percent since the start of the April. As per an official of PFRDA, new additions and increase in contributions can be attributed to the fact that the government extended tax incentives twice for 2019-20 during the pandemic.

  As per the official data, total contributions under the scheme stood at Rs.3.38 lakh crore. Withdrawals from the scheme fell by 8 percent as it allows withdrawal of only 25 percent of the contributions at any time.

  19 Sept 2020

• NPS equity funds are lagging behind Nifty 50 TRI

  The National Pension System (NPS) fund managers’ schemes E (equity) have been underperforming. The equity funds stand below Nifty 50 Total Return Index (TRI). This has been the case for the past three years. Even after a five-year timeframe, it looks like only one fund had outperformed the benchmark index. The schemes in total have delivered 2.09% to 4.86% returns on an annual basis when compared to the 5.93%. The large-cap mutual fund category had delivered 4.47% in the three-year time period.

  17 Sept 2020

• PFRDA-regulated NPS likely to cross AUM of Rs.5 lakh crore by September

  Speaking at FICCI’s 21^st Annual Insurance Conference, PFRDA chairman has stated that assets under management (AUM) of NPS is likely to cross Rs.5 lakh crore by the end of September. As per Section 80CCD(1B), investors are allowed a deduction on the amount contributed towards NPS of up to Rs.50,000. Currently, under NPS, at least 40 percent of the accumulated pension wealth of the subscriber needs to be utilized for the purchase of an annuity, providing for the monthly pension to the subscriber, and the balance 60 percent is paid as a lump-sum. He added that the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is also doing well as more than 2 million customers have joined the scheme in the current financial year despite lockdown and these challenging times.

  It must be noted here that though there has been some awareness about pension products in the country, the overall coverage has remained low. As per the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, India is ranked 32 out of 37 countries. The report shows that the Indian index value have increased to 45.8 in 2019 from 44.6 in 2018.

  30 Aug 2020

• PFRDA working on a new pension scheme

  The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is working on a new pension scheme as per its chairman. The authority is working on a minimum assured return-based pension scheme and is in talks with pension funds and actuarial firms to work out the modalities. He stated that under the PFRDA Act they have the mandate to launch a minimum assured return scheme. He added that they will give out the new product on their own unlike National Pension Scheme (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) which are created in consultation with the (Finance) Ministry.

  It must be noted here that PFRDA administers two government pension fund schemes known as NPS and APY. While NPS is for both central and state government employees, autonomous bodies and corporate organisations, APY is targeted at the unorganised sector.

  30 Aug 2020

• National Pension Scheme corpus may reach Rs.6 trillion within a year

  During the period from April to July 2020, there was a 20% growth in contribution from the government sector in the National Pension Scheme (NPS), in comparison to the same period the previous year. There was a growth of 50% in inflows from the private sector into the NPS for the same period as compared to the previous year. There was 36% more inflow from the retail sector into the Assets Under Management (AUM) during the same period as compared to the previous year. There was a total contribution of Rs.4,841 crore by both retail and private sectors towards NPS during this period, whereas for the same period last year it was Rs.3,328 crore. The overall inflow for the same period was Rs.28,531 crore whereas for the same period last year it was Rs.23,287 crore. Rs.42 crore was withdrawn during the same period this year.

  12 Aug 2020

• Allocation of National Pension Scheme reduces in June quarter

  There was a sharp decline in the number of private sector firms that contributed to the National Pension Scheme (NPS) during the June quarter of 2020. This was due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that slowed down the economy drastically. At the same time, there was an increase in withdrawals from the NPS due to the same reasons. The withdrawals in the period from April to July 2020 amounted to Rs.62 crore. The total inflow during the same period was Rs.30,000 crore. The withdrawals were done by both private and government sectors. This was in the aftermath of the special Covid-10 partial withdrawal scheme of the NPS which permitted customers to withdraw up to 25% of their funds that was invested with the NPS. This was availed by many customers in order to help them tide over the economic crisis that was the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In terms of the number of investors, the growth in the NPS sector has been flat.

  10 Aug 2020

• NPS Tax benefits under Section 80CCD (2) can still be claimed under new tax rates

  In case individuals switch to the new tax regime that has been proposed in Budget 2020, they will forego most of the tax exemptions that are allowed under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.

  However, in case of any contributions made towards the NPS account, individuals can still claim tax benefits under Section 80CCD (2) of the Income Tax Act. According to the Finance Bill, deductions under sub-section (2) of Section 80CCD and Section 80JJAA can still be claimed. If the employer is contributing towards the NPS scheme, tax benefits of up to 10% of the basic salary and dearness allowance can be claimed under Section 80CCD (2). In the case of Central Government employees, the limit is 14% of the employee’s salary. Employees can restructure their salary and opt for the tax deduction in case the employer allows it. Under the new tax regime, seven tax slabs have been introduced. In case you opt for the new tax regime, tax benefits of up to Rs.50,000 cannot be claimed under Section 80CCD (1B) of the Income Tax Act for any contributions made towards the Tier-I account. However, a proposal has been made where the employer cannot contribute more than Rs.7.5 lakh towards the NPS, EPF, and superannuation account. The employee will be taxed in case the contributions exceed that amount.

  15 Feb 2020

• Subscribers can now contribute up to Rs.50,000 to NPS online

  ‘'Lite’' subscribers to National Pension System (NPS) can now use the e-NPS Lite facility to make payments online which will be charged at Rs.3.75 per transaction. This will be paid to NSDL-CRA with charges for the payment gateway. Only Lite subscribers with valid and registered mobile numbers can avail this facility. Those who have not yet registered their mobile numbers to their account can request for it to be done at the Point of Presence (PoP) and then start making online payments to their account. To open an NPS Lite account, eligibilty is being a citizen of India between the ages of 18 and 60. NPS Lite, also called Swavalamban, a contribution of Rs.1,000 per year was made by the government of India for five years to each Lite-Swavalamban account that was opened in 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013.

  13 Jan 2020