Workshop on National Pension System for State Autonomous Bodies of North Eastern States

07 January 2018:

Workshop on National Pension System for State Autonomous Bodies of North Eastern States

Government of India introduced National Pension System (NPS) based on defined contribution for all new entrants joining services of Central Government on or after 01.01.2004. Most of the State Governments have notified the NPS similar to GoI for the employees of the respective State on various dates and many states have also notified NPS for State Autonomous Bodies also.

With a view to promote and expand the coverage of NPS among the State Autonomous Bodies PFRDA is organizing state level workshops for Autonomous Bodies of states which have not yet implemented NPS. These workshops are held by PFRDA in association with the respective State Govt.

In the last one year, the events were held at various States like Uttarakhand, Karnataka and Punjab. The basic objective of the workshop is to facilitate the autonomous bodies for seamless on boarding into NPS by understanding their concerns and feedback.

PFRDA convened a workshop on NPS for the State Autonomous Bodies of North Eastern States in association with Directorate of Treasuries of all the North Eastern States on 08th January, 2018 at Guwahati. Shri. Samir Kumar Sinha, IAS, Principal Secretary (Finance), Govt. of Assam chaired the workshop and Sh. A. G. Das, Chief General Manager, PFRDA inculcated awareness regarding NPS.

Among all the North Eastern States, Government of Manipur has first notified NPS for its employees in various Autonomous Bodies (SABs) of the state vide notification dated 31-12-2004 and it’s was effective from 01-01-2005.

Currently there are more than 140 State Autonomous Bodies operating in the North Eastern States and out of which only 16 entities have adopted NPS with the subscriber base of less than 2500. PFRDA expects that all these unregistered entities will adopt NPS after the workshop. In the workshop, NSDL-CRA is also participating to answer the queries related to technical parameters on NPS adoption. PFRDA has also planned a special window at the end of session for accepting the letter of consent so as to ensure faster adoption of NPS.

PFRDA also regulates the Govt. of India’s flagship scheme, Atal Pension Yojana which is focused on the unorganized sector workers. Under the APY, guaranteed minimum pension of Rs.1,000/- to 5,000/- per month will be given at the age of 60 years depending up on the contributions by the subscribers. Any Citizen of India whose age is between 18 - 40 years and having a savings bank account/post office savings bank account can join the APY scheme.

PFRDA has also planned to conduct an APY review cum strategy meeting on 08.01.18 at Guwahati for Major Banks of Assam and Regional Rural Banks of North Eastern States and the performance of the banks will be reviewed by Sh. A G Das, Chief General Manager, PFRDA.

Together, NPS and APY has massive footprints across the country with a subscriber base of more than 192 lacs subscribers and with an asset base of more than 2.20 lakh crores. In the recent developments, GoI has allowed exclusive tax benefits on NPS investment up to Rs 50,000.

PFRDA has also increased the maximum age of joining NPS-private sector to 65 years from 60 years at present. With this move, any Indian citizen, resident or non-resident, of 60-65 years of age can also join NPS and continue up to the age of 70 years. This initiative will allow a larger segment of society, particularly senior citizens, to reap the benefits of NPS and plan for a regular income.

Currently, the APY scheme has more than 80 lakh subscribers with an average of 15,000 new subscribers added on a daily basis. It is a proud moment for all Indian citizens because of the fact that the government is in the verge of achieving its vision of 1 crore subscribers under Atal Pension Yojana on 31st March, 2018.