11 managers, tier-2 default scheme: All that's happening with NPS

In order to give more choices to NPS subscribers, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development (PFRDA) has decided to include DSP in its list of pension fund managers. Currently, PFRDA has 10 fund managers on its roster, which will go on to 11 post DSPs induction. The existing fund managers include SBI, LIC, UTI, HDFC, ICICI, Kotak, Aditya Birla, Axis, Max Life and Tata pension management. As per reports, DSP will begin operations soon.

In terms of preferences, LIC, SBI and UTI make up for the lion’s share of managing NPS AUM. As of 31st March 2023, LIC Pension fund managed 32.43% of the entire NPS AUM, UTI managed 32.27%, and SBI pension had 33.97% of the entire NPS corpus. Rest of the fund managers collectively managed only 1.33% of the total NPS corpus, which edged past Rs 10 lakh crore recently. 

New scheme in offing
PFRDA also recently introduced the NPS tier 2 default scheme exclusively for government employees. According to the PFRDA circular, “This scheme is designed to offer flexibility and convenience, aligning with the unique requirements of the subscribers under the government sector”. All government sector employees under NPS will henceforth also be given the option of default scheme, in addition to existing investment choices like Scheme E / Scheme C / Scheme G. 

The employees will have the flexibility to continue with the default scheme account, even if they switch to a different sector. What’s more, the account can be opened with a minimum contribution amount. As per the circular, more than 700 subscribers have opted for this scheme. Here are some salient features of the scheme: 

1. No compulsory annual or maximum contribution needed
2. Anytime withdrawal possible
3. Easy transfer from this account to primary pension/tier-1 account 
4. No need to maintain a minimum balance
5. Can nominate separate nominees for this account

Government employees, both central and private, contribute to the bulk of NPS corpus. The AUM of central government sector subscribers grew from Rs 2 ,18,577 crores FY22 to Rs 2,57,638 crores in FY23. 

As for state government subscribers, their AUM jumped from Rs 3,69,427 crores in FY22 to Rs 4,49,186 crores in FY23.