Gujaratis are more conscious about investment for retirement: Survey

55% of Gujarati are thinking that retirement plan is important goal for them and 71% considering buying retirement plan at the age of 30 to 40

Compared to other parts of the country, people from Gujarat are more aware and conscious about its investment for retirement, said a survey by Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM), a part of Reliance Capital of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG).

"According to the survey, 55 per cent of Gujarati are thinking that retirement plan is important goal for them and 71 per cent considering buying retirement plan at the age of 30 to 40. While, more than 60 per cent of the respondents in India said they would like to start saving for retirement before 40 years", said Himanshu Vyapak, deputy chief executive officer, RCAM.

India's per capita retirement and pension assets as a percentage of GDP are amongst the lowest in the world. It has 15.1 per cent of retirement assets (as a percentage of GDP) as compared to 21 per cent in Germany, 41 per cent in Brazil, 78.9 per cent in USA and 146 per cent in Australia.

Vyapak said, "Considering the strong family structure that exists in India, "my children will take care of me when I retire" has emerged as the main reason for not planning for their retirement. "I have enough savings" was the second key reason for not opting for any retirement plan."

The survey has been conducted online pan India in collaboration with IMRB International, amongst India's largest research agencies. "With this study, we have made an attempt to understand the mindset of the consumer towards retirement planning", said Himanshu Vyapak.

The survey have indicated that the joint family system has dropped from 35% to 31% in the last 5 years, Also, the number of people ( aged 41-55 years) living alone has increased from 31% to 34% since 2008. Shift in the family structure which will have an impact on the retirement planning behaviour in the next 5 years.

Vyapak said, "Currently our client base is about 50,000 and we are aiming to reach at one million in next five years. Possible investment in retirement plan in our company will be around Rs 10,000 crore in next five years."

Reliance Retirement Fund, the first CBDT approved equity focused retirement fund offering benefit under Sec 80 C to investors, has raised over Rs 200 crore in a span of last 3 months. Over 85 percent of the investors have opted for the SIP option and chosen the equity route to plan for their retirement. Currently, India has approximately Rs 15 lakh crore of retirement assets, including EPFO, superannuation & gratuity funds, PPF and Insurance - of which over 90 per cent are currently invested in fixed income options.

"We are seeing a steady acceleration towards investments in equity based retirement fund. Our total commitment from SIP's in Reliance Retirement Fund is over Rs 1,300 crore till date. We believe that the overall contribution of such funds, which is miniscule today, will grow manifold in the coming years" said Vyapak.