PFRDA plans another push for a ‘struggling’ New Pension Scheme

Five months after taking charge as head of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), Yogesh Agarwal has decided to take measures to ‘fix’ problems plaguing the New Pension Scheme (NPS), which has failed to attract voluntary subscribers on a significant scale.

The regulator has decided to put distributors, who run ‘points-of-presence’, on notice for non-performance and de-register them if they fail to take measures to improve sales. The 40 points-of-sale, mostly banks, receive Rs 40 for every new pension account they open. According to Mr Agarwal, 90% of them have failed to perform. “If they fail to perform, we will ask them to make way for ones that are willing to,” he said.

At the same time, the regulator is considering improving incentives and getting fund managers to popularise the scheme. A committee, headed by former Sebi chairman GN Bajpai, is looking into ways to improve the distribution of NPS, which has now been rechristened the National Pension System.

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