The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is looking to launch more schemes targeting four verticals including gig workers, micro, small, medium enterprises (MSMEs), Farmer Producer Organisations (FPO) and self help groups (SHGs), said PFRDA Chairman S Ramann at Global Fintech Fest 2025 on Wednesday.
The body is also considing to include commodities in the scope of investment guidelines.
“We certainly have a roadmap going ahead. It’s already drawn out four different verticals in which we are planning to go deep,” he said.
Deepening Penetration
“Our aim to target gig workers. This is a great way to move forward because they are informal workers and nobody has looked at their larger saving interests.
“So, we would be delighted for the pension fund to take this forward and cover something in the region of 6 million which may increase to 20 million in the next 10 years. We certainly want these people to keep their money invested for a longer period of time,” said Ramann.
He also mentioned that they have received request from many, including regulators to allow commodities in the investment guidelines. He added that the committee is reviewing it and will take a final call.
Addressing customer feedback
Apart from these, he said they would also like to focus on exit and the annuity. “We heard a lot from the entire NPS community that forced annuity, which is currently at minimum 40%, is really not seen as favourable by the customers. We have brought out a consultation paper just a week ago, proposing alternatives to annuity.”
He underlined the need for more penetration, especially into informal sector, adding that it is a difficult and costly task. In order to bring that, they would assess the number of new customers enrolled into NPS.
“We have introduced an incentive system within the multiple scheme framework (MSF), which offers additional incentives to the pension funds and the distribution network if they tap new underpenetrated territories.”