PFRDA eases 'retirement advisers' registration process

The government on Tuesday announced it was easing the process of registration of "retirement advisers", with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) changing the process of submitting applications from the manual to the online mode.

"In order to smoothen the process of registration of Retirement Advisers, PFRDA has transformed the process of submitting application from physical mode to online mode," a Finance Ministry release said here.

"Retirement adviser" was defined as any individual, registered partnership firm, body corporate, or any registered trust or society, "which desires to engage in the activity of providing advice on National Pension System or other pension schemes regulated by PFRDA to prospects/existing subscribers or other persons, or group of persons, and is registered as such under the PFRDA (Retirement Advisers) regulations".

"PFRDA is registering Retirement Advisers for widening the coverage of NPS (National Pension Scheme) by facilitating on boarding of the subscribers and also providing advisory services to them for allocating assets under NPS and choosing Pension Fund Managers," it said.

Applicants can now submit their application online and upload scanned images of all the required documents, the Ministry said.

However, investment advisers registered with markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) are exempted from the requirement of such certifications and they can directly submit their application to PFRDA for registration, it added.

--IANS

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