India. Want to invest 50% of govt staff pension fund in market, says regulator
India’s pension regulator, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), has written to the government seeking approval to invest 50 per cent of the funds contributed by government employees under the National Pension Scheme (NPS), its flagship scheme in stocks. This signals a major shift considering that only 15 per cent of such funds are now routed to the stock markets.
The NPS now has a corpus of Rs 198,000 crore with 87 per cent — Rs 172,260 crore — being contributed by government employees. Pension funds regulated by PFRDA would be able to invest over Rs 86,000 crore in the Indian stock market if the government approves the proposal. That’s an additional Rs 57,000 crore for stocks. Currently, PFRDA can invest only 15 per cent (close to Rs 29,000 crore) of the corpus of funds contributed by government employees in the stock market.
NPS is an alternate option for those looking at retirement savings compared to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for the organised sector which is controlled by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) of the government.
Read full content here: Indian Express
