Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) organized a conference on the implementation of the national pension system (NPS) in state governments and state autonomous bodies of Northeast region in Guwahati with the objective to oversee efficient and effective implementation of the scheme.
NPS was introduced for central government employees (except armed forces) in 2004 and most of the state governments have also adopted it for their underlying employees. Presently, there are 58.21 lakh subscribers from all the state governments and SABs with assets under management (AUM) of Rs 4 lakh crores as on September 30, 2022, PFRDA said in a statement.
Supratim Bandyopadhyay, chairman, PFRDA in his keynote address said that achieving broad pension coverage in an affordable and fiscally sustainable way has remained an aspiring goal worldwide. “Open-ended and unfunded pension liabilities can have cascading and costly fiscal implications, including crowding out of other social and developmental expenditures from the budget,” he was quoted as saying.
He added that PFRDA is committed to creating awareness among the stakeholders to ensure smooth operations of the scheme and laying the strong foundation for building a pensioned society as envisioned by the government.
He mentioned about PFRDA’s digitally enabled solutions to NPS subscribers for on-boarding, servicing, and exit like contribution through NACH, direct remit, paperless exit and withdrawals, online Aadhaar e-KYC, partial withdrawals through self-declaration and eNPS for government subscribers.
He highlighted that for central government employees, the option to choose a pension fund and investment pattern has been provided. Also, the employer contribution for the CG employees has been increased to 14% from the erstwhile 10%. The state governments may also consider these initiatives for the benefit of their underlying employees.
Manoj Anand, whole time member (finance), PFRDA highlighted the valuable efforts of nodal offices right from enrolment of employees till the time of exit/retirement, which comprise generation of PRAN, deduction, and uploading of contributions, exit, and annuity related steps etc.
He further, added that the PFRDA in its continuous endeavor to oversee the efficient implementation of NPS at all stages under the regulatory framework of PFRDA conducts review meetings, workshops, seminars, and conferences from time to time with central and state government offices, to ensure old age income security of the NPS subscribers.
