Pension schemes draw more members

Total assets under management of National Pension Scheme (NPS) and the government-backed Atal Pension Yojana (APY) amounted to INR4,170bn ($55bn) with a subscriber base of over 30m at 31 March 2020, according to data released by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

Nearly 2.12m central government employees and around 4.75m state government employees were subscribers of the NPS at 31 March, reported Press Trust of India citing the official data.

In addition, 2.23m citizens from the private sector were subscribers of the NPS comprising of 1.25m individuals and 974,000 corporate employees tagged to 7,571 entities. During the fiscal year ended 31 March 2020, a total of 540,000 new subscribers and 1,617 new corporate entities from the non-government sector enrolled in the NPS.

PFRDA runs both the flagship pension schemes -- APY and NPS. While the NPS is for the central, state governments, autonomous bodies and corporates, APY is mainly meant to cater to the pension needs of those employed in the unorganised sector. In May 2015, the government launched the APY as a contributory scheme, open to all adults between 18 and 40. The subscribers — and their spouses after their death — are to receive monthly pensions after turning 60.

The AYS had a total of 15.4m subscribers at the end of March 2019, and this number exceeded 22m at the end of March 2020.

Source: Asia Insurance Review