PFRDA

PFRDA

Subject : National Organisations

Context : The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) crossed the milestone of Rs 6 lakh crore (Rs 6 trillion) of Assets Under Management (AUM) under the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY), after 13 years.

Concept :

• PFRDA is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament to promote old age income security by establishing, developing and regulating pension funds, to protect the interests of subscribers to schemes of pension funds and for matters connected there with or incidental thereto.
• PFRDA performs the function of appointing various intermediate agencies like Pension Fund Managers, Central Record Keeping Agency (CRA) etc.
• It develops, promotes and regulates the pension industry under National Pension System and also administers the Atal Pension Yojana.

Atal Pension Yojana

• The scheme was launched on 9th May, 2015, with the objective of creating a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the unorganised sector.
• Administered By: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority through National Pension System (NPS).
• Any citizen of India can join the APY scheme. The age of the subscriber should be between 18-40 years. The contribution levels would vary and would be low if a subscriber joins early and increases if she joins late.
• Benefits:
• It provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 on attaining 60 years of age.
• The amount of pension is guaranteed for lifetime to the spouse on death of the subscriber.
• In the event of death of both the subscriber and the spouse, the entire pension corpus is paid to the nominee.
• Contributions to the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) are eligible for tax benefits similar to the National Pension System (NPS).

National Pension System

• NPS is a government-sponsored pension scheme. It was launched in 2004 for government employees.
• Now, any individual citizen of India (both resident and non-resident) in the age group of 18-65 can join NPS.