NEW DELHI: The long-pending Pension Bill, a key
economic legislation assuring minimum returns to subscribers, was approved by
the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with the government saying it is based on the
principle that "you save while you earn".The Pension Fund
Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill, 2011, provides for market
based returns and wide coverage based on several investment options in the
pension sector with an aim to building confidence in the subscribers. It will
have provision for withdrawals for limited purposes from Tier-I pension
account, an incentive for subscribers to join the new pension scheme (NPS).
Replying to a brief debate, finance minister P Chidambaram said the government
has accepted most of the recommendations of the standing committee.The NPS, beneficial
for employees in the long run, is based on the principle that "you save
while you earn" especially for retirement period and is mainly for those
who have a regular income, he said. The corpus of the NPS having 52.83 lakh
subscribers (including those of 26 state governments) was about Rs 35,000 crore.
The bill also seeks to grant statutory status to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. "... Rs 35,000 crore should not be used by unstatutory authority ... All this Bill does is make unstatutory authority (into) a statutory authority," Chidambarm said, adding the statutory authority will have powers to penalise
The bill would also
provide subscribers a wide choice to invest their funds for assured returns,
like opting for government bonds as well as in other funds depending on their
capacity to take risk. The subscriber seeking minimum assured returns would be
allowed to opt for investing funds in such scheme providing minimum assured
returns as may be notified by the authority.
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