July 2019

05Jul

Indian government warns of ageing population; says retirement age should rise, schools merge

The Indian government on Thursday warned in a study that its population is going to start to age and it needs to be prepared to merge schools and raise the retirement age. While India should be set to benefit from the so-called “demographic dividend” over the next decade as its working population is set to increase by about 9.7 million a year between 2021-31, that will quickly fade as the nation’s fertility rate plunges below replacement level. The conclusions in the...

July 5, 2019
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June 2019

21Jun

India becomes investment darling for sovereign wealth and pension funds

Sovereign wealth funds are piling into India, buying stakes in everything from airports to renewable energy, attracted by political stability, a growing middle class and reforms making it more enticing for foreigners to invest. Wealth and state pension funds are expanding their horizons to private markets, to complement an existing focus on stocks and bonds. “India is popular with sovereign wealth funds,” said Tihir Sarkar, London-based partner at Cleary Gottlieb, which counts several prominent sovereign funds as clients. “Almost...

June 21, 2019
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May 2019

17May

Sex Workers Lobby for Pensions and Health Services in India Amid Elections

India is holding general and legislative assembly elections in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim until 19 May. Sex workers are lobbying candidates in the Indian general election asking them to support their demands for better health and welfare services in return for votes. The AINSW reportedly has 5 million members, yet sex workers have no special influence. Indian society and politics are known to be too conservative to talk about sex work openly, much...

May 17, 2019
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06May

India. Pension fund regulator to work with Nasscom, startups for National Pension System

The pension fund regulator is in the process of undertaking steps to identify the areas under the National Pension System (NPS) which could utilise the financial technologies (fintech) using the regulatory sandbox approach for the benefit of subscribers and NPS as a whole. A regulatory sandbox (RS) usually refers to live-testing of new products or services in a controlled and test regulatory environment for which regulators may or may not permit certain regulatory relaxations for the limited purpose of...

May 6, 2019
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March 2019

05Mar

India. Serving, retired staff of government insurers to benefit from pension scheme

Retired and serving employees of government-owned insurance companies are happy at the Centre's decision to offer another chance to opt for pension scheme. "I am happy with the development. With the interest rates on bank deposits sliding down, getting a steady pension income is good. I am going to opt for pension," said Y. Sivam, a retired employee of National Insurance Company Ltd. A serving employee in the same company said: "Earlier I didn't opt for the pension...

March 5, 2019
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January 2019

28Jan

PFRDA to audit pension funds on corporate governance

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is planning to audit the pension funds/sponsors, who manage pension assets worth over Rs 2.8 lakh crore for 2.48 crore subscribers. The pension fund managers (PFMs), appointed to manage the retirement savings of subscribers under the NPS, will be audited on seven parameters, including reporting & disclosures, investments, corporate governance and senior management. As per Regulation 26 of the PFRDA (Pension Funds) Regulation 2015, PFRDA may undertake directly or through its authorised...

January 28, 2019
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21Jan

Micro-pensions can boost security for India’s elderly poor

Only 4 per cent households were covered under widow pension, 2 per cent retirement pension and 1.5 per cent under disability pension. India is home to one-fifth of the world’s population which includes a third of the world’s poor and one-eighth of the world’s elderly. Most of them spend their whole lives as informal workers and have no retirement security other than the hope that their children will care for them in their old age. This arrangement worked well...

January 21, 2019
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December 2018

17Dec

Meeting India’s Retirement Challenge

By Richard Jackson ALTHOUGH RAPID DEVELOPMENT BRINGS GREAT BENEFITS, it also creates great challenges. Among the most critical is ensuring a measure of security for the old, who often find themselves vulnerable and marginalized as economic growth accelerates and traditional social and cultural norms are overturned. When rapid development is combined with rapid population aging, confronting the challenge becomes all the more urgent. India is one of the world’s most rapidly developing countries. Like most emerging markets, it is also progressing...

December 17, 2018
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14Dec

India. Senior Citizens Should Get Meaningful Pension: SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that senior citizens should get a meaningful pension to live with dignity, and not just the equivalent of Rs 92 at current value. The apex court said the State was "obligated to ensure" that the right to live with dignity that includes reasonable shelter, health care, clothing and meaningful pension for elderly people without any means was "not only protected but are enforced and made available to all citizens". Noting that in real terms the...

December 14, 2018
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12Dec

Pension savings withdrawal made 100% tax free in India

The government has made the NPSmore tax friendly by offering complete tax exemption to the 60% of the corpus that an investor can withdraw on maturity. When they retire, NPS investors have to use 40% of the corpus to buy an annuity and can withdraw the remaining 60% of the corpus. Till now, only 40% of this withdrawn amount was tax free, while the remaining 20% was taxed. Last week, the Union Cabinet approved a proposal to enhance the tax exemption limit to...

December 12, 2018
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