Pension scheme for poor soon: PFRDA

Thursday, 22 July 2010, 21:03 IST   |    2 Comments
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Pension scheme for poor soon: PFRDA
Bangalore: The interim pension regulator Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said it will soon launch a new scheme, National Pension System (NPS)Lite, for the economically deprived sections of society which will entail an annual contribution of just Rs1,000. The scheme follows an announcement by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in the last budget. "We are launching the NPS Lite. It is a low-cost structure meant for addressing the pension needs for the economically deprived sections of the society. That scheme we are launching very shortly. We have kept the minimum contribution at Rs1,000 annually," PFRDA Chairman Yogesh Agarwal said. The NPS Lite would be a low-cost pension scheme, he said, adding the effort would be to provide some kind of security cover to the very poor people. non-governmental organizations and microfinance institutions would be engaged to ensure that the benefits of scheme reach the target group, he said. Mukherjee in his budget speech had said the government would contribute Rs1,000 annually to each NPS account opened in 2010-11. The initiative, Swavalamban, will be available for persons who join NPS, with a minimum contribution of Rs1,000 and a maximum contribution of Rs12,000 per annum during 2010-11, he had said. Initially, the government launched the New Pension System for Central government employees joining service from 1 January 2004, but from 1 May last year it was extended to all citizens. However, the all-citizens pension scheme received a lukewarm response and only around 8,000 subscribers joined the scheme in 14 months. In the all-citizens pension scheme, a subscriber has to make a minimum contribution of Rs6,000 annually.
Source: PTI