 "PFRDA sets up Bajpai panel to assess investment guidelines")
New Delhi: Pension fund regulator PFRDA has set up an expert committee under the chairmanship of formerSebi chairman G N Bajpai to review investment guidelines for pension system, other than for government employees, andsuggest changes to make the scheme more attractive.
“After the notification of the Act in February 2014, this is the first time we are going through a wholesale review ofinvestment guidelines in the light of experience gained so far and emerging market dynamic, including investibleopportunities for the pension fund,” Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) acting chairman R V Vermatold PTI.
The panel will, among other things, “review current investment guidelines for NPS schemes for private sector and recommend changes or new schemes,” PFRDA said in a notification.
The six-member panel would also make recommendations on any other related issue which has a bearing on the investmentpattern of New Pension System and will affect the interest of subscribers to the NPS such as active and passive management.
It has been mandated to consider and analyse different types of instruments under schemes E, C, G based on domestic and international study or experience, it said, adding that it would be based on the analysis to recommend instruments under each asset class with suitable exposure limits as appropriate.
“We are looking at making the whole pension eco-systemunder National Pension System (NPS) more efficient,cost-effective and market-driven with due regard to riskmanagement and risk mitigation measures,” he said.
“The purpose is to examine all the issues connected withinvestment guidelines, including product design, market,prudential norms, expansion of number of subscribers and thecorpus,” he added.
The penal which is expected to submit its report in sixweeks would also look into the monitoring and supervisionmechanism over pension fund manager investment portfolio.Members of the panel are Deepak Satwalekar, former CEOand Managing Director at HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company;S B Mathur, former LIC Chairman; C R Murlidharan, former IRDAMember and Madhavi Das, Executive Director, PFRDA.
In 2010, the PFRDA had set up a committee headed by G NBajpai and entrusted it with the task of analysing the feestructure and suggesting changes to the National PensionSystem (NPS).
The central government had introduced the New PensionSystem (NPS) in January 2004.
Initially, the New Pension System covered new entrants tocentral government services (excluding Armed Forces) and somestate government services.From May 1, 2009, PFRDA has extended NPS to all citizensof India, including workers of the unorganised sector.NPS has garnered a total of 71 lakh subscribers by July31, 2014 and is managing above Rs 58,000 crore of funds.
PTI