The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has said the assets under management (AUM) of the National Pension System (NPS) and Atal Pension Yojana schemes has crossed the Rs 5 trillion mark, up 35 per cent since October last year. It had assets of Rs 4.17 trillion under management at the end of March, and seeks to achieve Rs 6 trillion by the end of FY21. The number of subscribers under the NPS and Atal Pension Yojana crossed 37.6 million as on 10 October.

“We have enabled a robust and unique architecture with efficient systems and professional fund managers delivering market-based returns, enabling our subscribers to accumulate their retirement corpus. During this pandemic, a growing realization of both corporates and individuals has emerged that retirement planning is not a mere saving or tax benefit choice, witnessed by NPS enrolment growing almost 14 per cent during this challenging period,” said Supratim Bandyopadhyay, chairman, PFRDA.

On steps taken by the regulator to ensure the growth of pension schemes, the chairman said it has simplified the process for joining by corporates, and employers have been allowed to authenticate employees’ NPS application forms through email. According to PFRDA, 45 central public sector enterprises have moved their existing superannuation funds to NPS, with another two-three public companies in the process of shifting their accounts.

The NPS has given an annualized return of 9.71 per cent on equity investments in the past 11 years, while the bond portion has delivered 10.31 per cent return. The regulator has introduced new methods for authenticating subscribers, including OTP- or eSign-based and offline Aadhaar-based onboarding, third-party onboarding after KYC verification, e-nomination and e-exit for NPS subscribers.