PFRDA asks funds to match Rel Capital's bid for pension corpus

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is understood to have asked shortlisted fund managers to match the lowest bid submitted by Reliance Capital Pension Fund for managing pension corpus of non-government employees for a period of five years.

Other nine shortlisted fund managers have been asked to submit bids indicating fund management charges. If the bid matches that of the lowest bidder, they would be selected to manage the fund, sources said.

In April, PFRDA shortlisted nine fund managers, including LIC Pension Fund, SBI Pension Fund, UTI Retirement, Reliance Capital Pension Fund based on Request for Proposal (RFP) floated in January for managing the funds of private sector NPS.

Other entities include DSP Blackrock Pension Fund Managers, ICICI Prudential Pension Funds Management, Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund, Tata Asset Management Company and Birla Sun Life.

The total assets under management is about Rs 56,000 crore comprising of both government and non-government employees' contribution.

Last month, , HDFC Pension Fund Management Company, wholly owned subsidiary of HDFC Life Insurance, also qualified as successful bidder after Delhi High Court asked PFRDA to consider former bid.

In April, PFRDA had disqualified HDFC Life's bid. In May, the court set aside PFRDA's decision and asked it to evaluate the HDFC Pension Fund bid in accordance with the steps outlined in the formal RFP.

As per the RFP, the three existing managers for NPS of government employees were also asked to submit commercial bids only, while others were required to submit both technical and commercial bids.

To transparently and competitively determine key aspects like the Investment Management Fees (IMF), which have a significant impact on the terminal pension wealth of the subscribers, PFRDA, in the subscribers' interest proposes to appoint afresh, 8 competing professional Pension Funds (PFs) to manage the assets of the private sector NPS, RFP said.

The proposed appointment would be valid for a period of five years, it said.

"While the appointment of PF(s) shall be valid for five years, subject to review, for continuation at the end of every succeeding year of operation, on consideration of performance in compliance with stipulated conditions," it said.

The Central Government had introduced the New Pension System (NPS), now known as National Pension System with effect from 1 January 2004.

Initially, the New Pension System covered new entrants to Central Government services (excluding Armed Forces) and some State Government services.

From May 1, 2009, PFRDA has extended NPS to all citizens of India, including workers of the unorganised sector.