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Pension savings, being among the longest-duration and most patient forms of capital, can play a key role in building infrastructure and supporting India's journey towards Viksit Bharat while generating returns aligned with long-term liabilities, Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said on Tuesday. A deep and well-governed pension pool can contribute to the creation of a developed India by supporting growth-oriented investments while ensuring liability-aware returns for subscribers, he said while addressing an event organised by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). Nageswaran highlighted that pension funds globally have faced funding challenges, particularly in the past when low interest rates pushed investors towards riskier assets. "The funding gap has long plagued Western pension funds and narrowed somewhat as interest rates moved away from the zero-flow environment. However, a subtle risk has emerged," he said. Pension funds have increasingly moved
Retirement fund body EPFO will soon automate the process for settling final provident fund withdrawal claims, fast-tracking the money transfer to the applicant's bank accounts, a top official said on Wednesday. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has more than seven crore members. At present, partial or advance withdrawal claims of up to Rs 5 lakh are settled through auto mode, and the deadline for the auto-settlement mode is three days from filing the claim. Speaking at the ASSOCHAM's National Seminar on New Labour Codes, Central Provident Fund Commissioner, EPFO, Ramesh Krishnamurthi, said, "We are also going to initiate, as far as feasible, auto-settlement for now...which was (available) only for advances. Now we are going in for auto-settlement of final withdrawals." He further added that the EPFO is going in for auto-settlement and auto-transfer of provident fund accounts in case a member shifts employers. "You don't have to file a form anymore. We try to ...
State Bank of India chairman C S Setty on Wednesday called for active participation by mutual funds and pension funds in the corporate bond market. "I am sure that a lot of corporates would like to issue bonds. I believe that if household/corporate savings are finding ways into these three investment categories, it is important that insurance and mutual funds also actively participate in the corporate bond market. I don't see that kind of participation actively coming in," Setty said. He said the pension/ mutual funds are making investments in AAA-rated bonds and this is not going to help deepen the corporate bond market. Setty said the corporate bond market has to come into financing of infrastructure as well as balance sheet funding of corporates. He said the investments are happening not only in equity but also in mutual funds, pension funds and insurance funds. "We have been debating on depth of the corporate bond market for many years. We could not achieve that depth," Setty
The government has begun searching for a successor to Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) chairman Deepak Mohanty whose term is ending in May next year. The PFRDA chairman holds office for five years or till the age of 65 years. The chairman is entitled to a consolidated salary of Rs 5.62 lakh per month without the facility of house and car, the finance ministry said while inviting applications for the post. As per the eligibility criteria mentioned in the public notice issued by the Department of Financial Services, the applicant should have a minimum of two years of residual service as of the last date of submission of applications. Applicants should be a government servant and have worked as Secretary/Additional Secretary in the Government of India or its equivalent level in a State Government for at least three years, it said. A public sector official, and has worked at least at one level immediately below the board level for at least three years or an ..