Bajpai panel report on NPS likely in Jan

The G N Bajpai committee, appointed to look into the problems stifling the growth of the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and to popularise it with individuals, is likely to submit its report next month.

“We have completed the hearing and now we will discuss issues like the cost structure and the responsibility of popularising NPS,” PFRDA Chairman Yogesh Agarwal said today.

Till date, NPS for the unorganised segment had gathered Rs 40 crore and has 30,000 accounts, he said. Assets under management (AUM) for the mandatory government accounts, operational since 2004, stood at Rs 7,000 crore, said Praveen K Tiwari, executive director, PFRDA. “We aim to increase the number of accounts to one million by the end of this financial year,” he added.

For this purpose, the government will contribute Rs 1,000 a year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11 and for the next three years, under the Operational Guidelines for the Swavalamban Scheme, which was announced in the Finance Minister’s Budget speech of 2010-11.