Amendment to the investment Guidelines (Applicable to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana)

PFRDA: Amendment to the investment Guidelines (Applicable to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana)

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
B-14/A, Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhawan,
Qutab Institutional Area,
Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi-110016.

Ph: 011-26517501, 26517503, 26133730
Fax: 011-26517507
Website: www.pfrda.org.in

CIRCULAR

PFRDA/2019/8/SUP-PF/2

Date: 25.03.2019

Subject: Amendment to the investment Guidelines (Applicable to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana)

Reference is invited to the Investment Guidelines for NPS Schemes (Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana) dated 3rd June 2015 issued vide circular no. PERDA/2015/16/PFM/7, the Change in Investment guidelines for NPS schemes W.r.t. Investment in equity Mutual funds vide circular no. PERDA/2018/56/PF/2 dated 20th August 2018 and Revised rating criteria for investments under NPS Schemes vide circular No. PERDA/2018/02/PF/02 dated 08.05.2018. The changes hereunder shall apply only to Scheme CG, Scheme SG, Corporate CG and NPS Lite schemes of NPS and Atal Pension Yojana.

2. In order to provide flexibility to the Pension Funds to improve the scheme performance depending upon the market conditions, it has been decided to increase the cap on Government Securities & related investments and Short term debt instruments & related investments by 5% each.

3. The asset class wise revised caps on the various asset classes are as under:

Asset Class	Caps on Investments for composite schemes
Government Securities & related investments	Upto 55%
Debt Instruments & related investments	Upto 45%
Equity & related investments	Upto 15%
Asset backed, trust structured etc.	Upto 5%
Short term debt instruments & related investments	Upto 10%

4.The other terms and conditions as mentioned in the circular PERDA/2015/16/PFM/7 dated 03.06.2015, circular no. PERDA/2018/56/PF/2 dated 20th August 2018 and circular No. PFRDA/2018/02/PF/02 dated 08.05.2018 shall remain the same.

This circular is issued in exercise of powers of the Authority under sub-clause (b) of the sub- section (2) of section 14 of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 read with regulation 14 and 43 of PFRDA (Pension Fund) Regulation, 2015.

This would be effective from 01.04.2019.

Venkateswarlu Peri
(Chief General Manager)

Government will soon start the selection process for the new PFRDA chairman

Government will soon start the selection process for the new PFRDA chairman

"The Finance Ministry will soon come out with an advertisement to find a successor to head the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA),"

Contractor's term will be completed on April 30, 2019.

PFRDA was re-constituted into a statutory body after notification of PFRDA Act in 2014.

Contactor is the first Chairman to head the regulatory body. He had joined PFRDA on October 7, 2014.

As per the Act, the chairman will have a tenure of 5 years or till age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
Contractor was previously held the post of SBI managing director before being appointed as the PFRDA Chairman.

The pension fund regulator has reached a subscriber base of 2.65 crore in its flagship National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) schemes and hopes to cover nearly 2.72 crore subscribers by the end of the current financial year.

The APY, mainly targeting the unorganised sector employees, offers five slabs of pension from Rs 1,000 - Rs.5,000 per month upon retirement. Employees in the age bracket of 18-40 years can sign up for an APY account.

NPS is a voluntary defined contribution retirement savings scheme for government employees as well as for those working in the organised and unorganised sectors.

PTI

PFRDA identifies 21 Banks as Makers of Excellence under Atal Pension Yojana Outreach Programme; The Number of Current APY subscribers crosses 86 Lacs mark

Ministry of Finance

PFRDA identifies 21 Banks as Makers of Excellence under Atal Pension Yojana Outreach Programme; The Number of Current APY subscribers crosses 86 Lacs mark.

15 FEB 2018

With a view to bring the economically disadvantaged section of the society in the unorganized sector within the pension fold or old age income security coverage, Government had launched the Atal Pension Yojana (APY)in May 2015.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in association with Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance conducts APY Outreach Programme on a regular basis.
Accordingly, PFRDA has observed a Campaign namely, Makers of Excellence for the Chairmen and MDs of all the Public Sector Banks, Private Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Banks (Rural & Urban) & Department of Post for registration of subscriber under APY during the month of Dec 2017 for a fortnight. Under the campaign, nearly, 6 lacs APY accounts were sourced by the APY Service Provider Banks. Targets were allocated to various banks to be achieved during the Campaign. A total of 21 banks- 6 Public sector banks, 14 Regional Rural Banks and 1 Cooperative Bank were able to achieve the target under the campaign and became the Makers of Excellence. PFRDA has planned to award the Top Management of the winning banks at the upcoming PFRDA Pension Conclave in national capital.

The winning Banks and their performance is as below:

S. No.	Name of the APY Service Provider	Category	Number of Branches	Minimum No. of Funded Accounts to be Sourced under Makers of Excellence Campaign	Actual No. of Funded Accounts Sourced under Makers of Excellence Campaign	Remarks (Qualified /Not Qualified
1	CANARA BANK	PSU	6,050	35,000	1 01,669	Qualified
2	INDIAN BANK	PSU	2,588	15,000	7 6,823	Qualified
3	ANDHRA BANK	PSU	2,903	15,000	5 7,315	Qualified
4	BANK OF BARODA	PSU	5,460	30,000	42,665	Qualified
5	ALLAHABAD BANK	PSU	3,143	20,000	3 0,029	Qualified
6	VIJAYA BANK	PSU	1,603	10,000	2 8,241	Qualified
7	GRAMIN BANK OF ARYAVART	RRB	700	3,500	5,915	Qualified
8	MADHYA BIHAR GRAMIN BANK	RRB	698	3,490	5,50 7	Qualified
9	PRAGATHI KRISHNA GRAMIN BANK	RRB	650	3,250	5,38 3	Qualified
10	PRATHAMA BANK	RRB	412	2,060	5,28 8	Qualified
11	BARODA UTTAR PRADESH GRAMIN BANK	RRB	924	4,620	5,12 5	Qualified
12	ANDHRA PRADESH GRAMEENA VIKAS BANK	RRB	768	3,840	4,89 3	Qualified
13	BARODA RAJASTHAN KSHETRIYA GRAMIN BANK	RRB	819	4,095	4,56 0	Qualified
14	PURVANCHAL BANK	RRB	570	2,850	3,36 8	Qualified
15	KAVERI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	497	2,485	2,94 2	Qualified
16	DENA GUJARAT GRAMIN BANK	RRB	234	1,170	2,32 2	Qualified
17	BIHAR GRAMIN BANK	RRB	376	1,880	2,25 8	Qualified
18	CHAITANYA GODAVARI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	203	1,015	1,71 4	Qualified
19	PALLAVAN GRAMA BANK	RRB	256	1,280	1,43 1	Qualified
20	SAPTAGIRI GRAMEENA BANK	RRB	207	1,035	1,07 4	Qualified
21	THE BEGUSARAI CENTRAL COOPERATIVE BANK LTD	DCCB	9	45	113	Qualified

The APY scheme became operational from 1st June, 2015 and is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years. Under the Scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years. The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.

The APY Scheme follows the same investment pattern as applicable to the NPS contribution of Central Govt employees. During the year 2016-17, it has earned a return of 13.91%.

The number of current APY Subscribers has crossed 86 lacs mark. The yearly addition in APY enrollment is provided below:

APY Subscriber Addition (In Lacs)
Year	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18( till 13thFeb 2018)	Total
No of Subscribers ( lacs)	24.84	23.99	37.63	86.46

PIB

PFRDA eyes training 64,500 employees to create mass awareness on NPS, APY

PFRDA eyes training 64,500 employees to create mass awareness on NPS, APY

NEW DELHI: Pension regulator PFRDA has appointed IL&FS Skill Development Corporation to train 64,500 government employees and other stakeholders on various aspects of flagship schemes NPS and APY.

The training institute has been appointed to create mass awareness and impart training on National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojna (APY) to the employees of Points of Presence, APY service providers, and corporates of North-West zone.

Nodal officers of central and state governments and those at state autonomous bodies too would be trained, said Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

"It is intended to have at least 50-60 participants in each session of 3-4 hours duration and conduct approximately 1,610 training sessions and train 64,500 participants in the NW zone over the next 12 months," PFRDA said while notifying the training institute.

Participants from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli would be imparted training on various aspects of the two flagship social security programmes.

As on January 17, the overall number of NPS and APY subscribers stood at 1.42 crore, with Asset Under Management (AUM) of Rs 1.61 lakh crore. APY, which guarantees a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 - Rs 5,000, has about 43 lakh subscribers.

As on January 17, the overall number of NPS and APY subscribers stood at 1.42 crore, with Asset Under Management (AUM) of Rs 1.61 lakh crore. APY, which guarantees a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 - Rs 5,000, has about 43 lakh subscribers.