Association of NPS Intermediaries set up to regulate pension sector

After Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI), an Association of NPS Intermediaries (ANI) has been set up to regulate the pension sector. This comes at a time when the total subscribers in the pension sector is more than 80 million, including 64 million in Atal Pension Yojana, out of which there are about 16 million subscribers in NPS, and the corpus of the pension system is Rs 13.8 lakh crore. Given that, we expect the number to be Rs 15 lakh crore by the end of the year,” says Deepak Mohanty, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman.

The ANI is a collective platform representing all stakeholders in the NPS ecosystem. It is committed to enhancing the effectiveness of the system, strengthening subscriber welfare, and collaborating with policymakers to shape the future of retirement planning in India. The ANI stakeholders are points of presence (bank and non-bank), central record keeping agencies, trustee banks, custodians, aggregators, annuity service providers, pension agents, retirement advisors, and other industry participants.

The primary objectives of the association are to:

Promote NPS as a reliable, flexible, and tax-efficient retirement product
Focus on subscriber welfare by ensuring smooth and transparent processes within the system
Collaborate with regulators and policymakers to improve the NPS framework and contribute to developing the pension market in India

Speaking with the media, Mohanty, emphasised on the expansion of the the NPS industry, driven by growing awareness for investors, government initiatives through PFRDA and NPS, and trust and support from a robust network of intermediaries.

He also said NPS has emerged as the most tax-efficient post-retirement savings product today. To target a younger population, the regulatory body is also collaborating with digital companies and working on making NPS transparent, with T+O settlement the infrastructure is already very convenient for the investor. NPS also has systematic withdrawal and provides continuity to your retirement savings and even NRIs can avail this, added Mohanty.