The Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) has sought the government’s clarification on the issue of regulating the pension products being run by mutual fund houses and life insurers.
“We have asked the government to clarify whether we can regulate the pension business being run by mutual fund houses and life insurance companies because the PFRDA Act empowers the pension fund regulator to regulate all kinds of pension business in the country,” PFRDA Chairman Hemant Contractor said.
Pension products of insurance firms are now regulated by IRDA. On the pension business being managed by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), he said that it is up to the government to decide who will be regulating the fund. The corpus of pension fund under PFRDA regulation has already crossed the Rs 94,000 crore mark so far, including Rs 7,000 crore raised in the first four months of the current financial year. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the CII insurance summit, Contractor said the pension fund regulator is taking a host of measures to popularise the pension products in the organized sector. It has also sought tax-breaks from the government. PFRDA is set to launch an online facility for the prospective customers.
On the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), he said, “we’ve already opened 6.80 lakh accounts under APY during past couple of months since the scheme was launched.”
