June 2017

13Jun

India. PE/VC investments hit 10-year high at $3.1 bn in May

Private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) investments have recorded the highest monthly investments in the past 10 years at $3.1 billion in May 2017. For the third consecutive month in a year, the investment flow crossed the $2-billion mark. The financial services sector topped the table on account of the $1.4-billion investment by Softbank in Paytm. This deal accounted 46 per cent of aggregate deal value for the month. According to Ernst & Young (EY) data, the month recorded a 264...

June 13, 2017
News
Read more...
08Jun

India. Survey looks for what ageing India needs

Since April 1, teams in Gujarat have gone about meeting 4,000 people aged over 45 to assess their needs, the first step of a nationwide, 25-year exercise aimed at framing long-term policy initiatives for India’s ageing population. The Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), launched last year by the health ministry, has targeted a sample of 60,000 people over 45, whose health will be documented over 25 years. Gujarat began its fieldwork on April 1 this year, along with Daman...

June 8, 2017
News
Read more...
07Jun

India. School students paying staff pensions

Should a school student who has gained admission on full scholarship, after a national-level entrance examination, be forced to pay for the pensions and salary of his school staff? This is the question that the authorities who run the Sainik Schools are struggling to address. According to the estimates with the government, total expenditure on a Sainik School student is a minimum of ₹62,000 per year. Even in the case of students on a full scholarship, (excluding those from SC/ST and...

June 7, 2017
News
Read more...

May 2017

22May

India’s pension funds have now more investment options

Pension fund managers will now have more investment options, with InvITs finally becoming a reality after two years and REITs in the offing. Pension regulator PFRDA has created a separate asset class for investment under which the funds can be invested into newly created trusts InvITs and REITs. PFRDA has issued a revised investment guidelines for National Pension System (NPS) schemes (for private sector), which came into effect from May 8. The revised guidelines comes in the backdrop of two Infrastructure Investment...

May 22, 2017
News
Read more...
16May

‘India ageing gradually; every 5th person to be 60+ by 2050’

India will transform gradually from young to a 'greying' country and by 2050 every 5th Indian will be in 60s as against every 12th at present. Flagging the demographic transition, a PFRDA-CRISIL report today said it is important that the development of the under-penetrated pension market in India be initiated now, when the situation is ripe. "Demographically, India will transition slowly from a 'young' to a 'greying' country, where persons above the age of 60 would increase from 8.9 per cent...

May 16, 2017
News
Read more...
11May

India. PFRDA asks govt to resolve uncertainty over regulation of pension products

In an attempt to bring all pension products under the purview of a single regulator, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has sought a final word on the matter with the government. In an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol, Hemant Contractor, Chairman of PFRDA said that they are hopeful of the government deciding on a single-source regulator. Currently, the National Pension System alone is regulated by the PFRDA. However, pension products sold by insurance companies are overseen by the Insurance Regulatory...

May 11, 2017
News
Read more...
04May

India. 7th Pay Commission: Centre approves modifications on pay and pensionary benefits

Rejecting the 7th pay commission’s recommendation of a slab-based system to calculate the disability pensions, the Union Cabinet Wednesday approved the original percentage-based system that was implemented after the 6th pay commission’s recommendations. Retention of the percentage-based system will benefit existing and future defence pensioners. This system also brings additional pension expenditure of Rs 130 crore per year will make Centre’s total annual pension bill approximately Rs 1,76,071 crores. This modification will be implemented from January 1, 2016. An official...

May 4, 2017
News
Read more...

April 2017

28Apr

India. Market-linked assured returns pension plan runs into hurdles

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority’s (PFRDA) proposal to offer minimum assured returns on market-linked pension plans is facing resistance from other financial regulators and fund managers, said three people with direct knowledge of the matter, including a PFRDA official. The matter was discussed in the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) meeting held on 17 April. As a way out, the pension regulator has suggested an inter-regulatory committee to work out the modalities. In 2016, based on a provision in...

April 28, 2017
News, OP Ed
Read more...
21Apr

Inadequate pensions leave India’s elderly no choice but to work

Kamla Devi (not her real name), of advanced but uncertain age, lives in Lohari, a remote adivasi village located inside a wildlife sanctuary in Udaipur, Rajasthan. On a summer day in 2016, we approached her as she was chasing after a small herd of goats, to ask questions as part of a study on the relation between ageing, paid work and pensions. Our very first question–whether she was a beneficiary of the government's non-contributory pension scheme for the aged–irritated her....

April 21, 2017
News
Read more...

March 2017

28Mar

India’s largest mobile phone company sells 10.3% of tower unit to KKR-Canada Pension Plan combine

India's Bharti Airtel has sold a 10.3% stake in its tower unit to a consortium for 61.94 billion rupees ($952 million) as the country's largest mobile phone company seeks to trim its staggering debt. The consortium, backed by private equity firm KKR & Co. and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, paid 325 rupees per Bharti Infratel share, a 4% premium to Monday's closing price, Bharti Airtel said in a statement to the Indian stock exchanges Tuesday. Bharti Airtel, which will hold...

March 28, 2017
News
Read more...