NPS investment into equities touch 13pc in FY15: PFRDA

For greater returns, the stock market investment from the New Pension System (NPS) corpus rose to 13 per cent in the last fiscal, while the pension regulator PFRDA is in discussion with the government for greater tax benefits for subscribers of this scheme.
In the previous fiscal 2013-14, the total investment in equities stood at 9 per cent of the NPS corpus.
Total assets under management of the NPS currently stands at Rs 87,000 crore and 94 lakh subscribers have already been brought under its fold.
"We had seen 8-9 per cent of the NPS corpus invested into equity market in fiscal 2014, which had gone up to 12-13 per cent in FY15," Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Hemant Contractor said here.

He was speaking on the sidelines of Pension & Retirement Benefits summit organised by ET Edge.
Efforts are on to bring the investments into NPS under EEE (exempt, exempt, exempt) mode from the currently existing status of EET (exempt, exempt, tax) mode.

"Some discussions have already taken place with the government on changing the investment being made into NPS from currently existing EET to EEE as we want to bring parity between investments being made into NPS and other financial products like mutual fund which already enjoy the status of EEE," Contractor said.
"However, we are yet to hear anything from the government on the issue," he added.

As of now, contributions to the NPS are tax-exempt, but that withdrawals are counted as taxable income (EET). These tax benefits apply to all contributions.
The government has provided an additional deduction of Rs 50,000 for contribution to the NPS.
The regulator is aiming at increasing the subscription under the social security scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to the tune of 2 crore by the March from the currently existing mark of 2.9 lakh.