PFRDA asks pension funds to maintain MF holdings with SHCIL

In a bid to protect subscribers' interest, regulator PFRDA has asked pension funds to maintain their mutual fund holdings with custodian SHCIL.
The Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHCIL) is the custodian of 'securities for custody' of the securities pertaining to the funds under management of all schemes of the National Pension System and Atal Pension Yojna.
In an advisory, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said it has come to notice that "some pension funds" are not keeping some of the securities particularly mutual funds units with the appointed custodian.
"It is advised that all pension funds shall maintain the holdings in mutual funds with the appointed custodian," the regulator said.

It also asked the pension funds to covert the existing holdings of mutual fund units in de-mat form in coordination with SHCIL under confirmation to the NPTS Trust and the PFRDA.
In all there are seven pension funds, including HDFC Pension Management, ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Management, LIC Pension Fund, and UTI Retirement Solutions.

The funds contributed by the subscribers are invested by the PFRDA registered pension funds as per the investment guidelines provided by the regulator.
As per the PFRDA, the investment guidelines are framed in such a manner that there is minimal impact on the subscribers contributions even if there is a market downturn by a judicious mix of investment instruments like government securities, corporate bonds and equities.

As on January 17, the overall number of NPS and Atal Pension Yojna subscribers had crossed 1.42 crores with Asset Under Management (AUM) of Rs 1.61 lakh crore.