2.4 million customers joined Atal Pension Yojana in 2020: Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Chairman, PFRDA
New Delhi: About 2.4 million customers joined the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) in 2020, the Pensions Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman said on Friday at the CII Insurance and Pensions Summit.
“Over 2.4 million new customers have joined the APY this year,” said Shri Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Chairman, PFRDA.
Speaking at the summit, the PFRDA Chair listed out the benefits of NPS scheme and highlighted that the National Pension Scheme (NPS) is a transparent, low cost, portable and well regulated product. He further added that the NPS offered a bouquet of services as well as tax benefits.
The PFRDA Chief also mentioned at the Summit that it was trying to reach out to the entire population of the country in order to create pension literacy, via seminars, social media, etc.
Shri Bandyopadhyay also indicated, at the Summit, that the cost structure of pension fund managers and intermediaries of the NPS was likely to change soon and requests for proposals for pension fund managers could be out by December.
“We are doing a cost-benefit analysis and definitely very soon we will see some changes in the cost structure for pension fund managers and other intermediaries also,” said Shri Supratim Bandyopadhyay, speaking at the CII Insurance and Pensions Summit.
Regarding the RFP, he said, “The RFP for pension fund managers may take about two and a half months. By December, definitely we will see the RFPs out and everybody is welcome.”
Currently, there are 8 pension fund managers under the NPA including SBI Pension Funds, UTI Retirement Solutions and LIC Pension Fund. He added, that while there might not be any restrictions on the number of pension fund managers, there will be entry barriers to ensure a certain level of quality.
“Hopefully we will not be restricting the numbers but there will be some entry barriers to see that only very serious players should come,” said Shri Bandyopadhyay.
Speaking earlier on Thursday, on the first day of the Summit, Tapan Singhel, Chairman, CII National Committee on Insurance and Pensions and Managing Director & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company said that the CII 22nd Insurance & Pensions summit, is a great platform where regulators, industry veterans, changemakers and thought leaders from various domains came together to establish the credibility of insurance and pensions, as a service that offers resilience to the entire nation’s economy. I am sure, with an intent so strong, and a direction so clear as displayed throughout the Summit, the industry is poised to further evolve as a sector that mitigates financial risks both at micro and macro levels through cutting edge tech, data science clubbed with empathy and care.