PSBs, RRBs excel in opening APY accounts
Now the government employees will have the facility to register online in NPS and generate PRAN through eNPS:
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has reached the milestone of 3 mn voluntary subscribers under the National Pension System (NPS) over a period of 12 years. The growth in NPS subscribers has been remarkable, with 7.53 mn employees joining the scheme from the government sector (central and state governments) and 3 mn individuals from the non-government sector (all citizen and corporate model). More than 9100 entities or employers have already adopted NPS for its employees. 2.77 mn new subscribers joined the NPS central government, state government, and corporate sector and contributed during September 2017 to June 2021.
P F R DA C h a i r ma n S u p r a t i m Bandyopadhyay updates: “The achievement of 3 million subscribers in the non-government sector is remarkable as they are voluntary enrolments as compared to government sector. With the current momentum of 50% growth in enrolments over last year, we look forward to add a million new subscribers during the current fiscal, in the nongovernment sector.”
As on 14th August 2021, the total number of subscribers is 44.80 million and the total assets under management (AUM) are `6.37 trillion. The number of subscribers in various schemes under the NPS recorded y/y increase of 23.79% to 44.27 million by end- July 2021. As on 31st July 2021, total pension assets under management stood at `6.27 trillion, showing y/y growth of 29.88%.
PRIVATE SUBSCRIBER BASE UP
NPS private sector (citizens + corporate) has seen a y/y subscriber growth of 26.75% during the current financial year. The number of subscriber registration under all citizen model increased by 34.91%. AUM under NPS private sector registered a y/y growth of 48.21% and the total AUM increased from `656.59
billion to `973.14 bn.
546 new corporates have already adopted NPS in the current FY and total number of registered corporates as on 7th August, 2021 reached 9126 with a total of 1.19 mn subscribers, which includes 0.52 mn bank employees. 52 CPSEs have already chosen NPS as a retirement benefit plan for their employees.
Supratim Bandyopadhyay, explains: “Although last year was pretty challenging because of pandemic, we are glad that we could achieve 24% growth in non-government subscribers base and overall AUM too grew by 38%. The scheme returns of nearly 10%, generated by pension funds, are praiseworthy. In totality, 0.6 mn new non-government subscribers and 1100 new corporates have joined NPS scheme.”
eNPS FOR GOVT EMPLOYEES
There is very important development that is taking place in the current FY. The employees of government sector (central/ state government including autonomous bodies) would be provided with the option to digitally register themselves under the respective government sector through Aadhaar online/offline e-KYC, and through permanent account number (PAN).
According to K. Mohan Gandhi, Chief General Manager, central record keeping agencies (CRAs) would be rolling out the feature `eNPS for government’ shortly. To popularize the new feature, CRAs will undertake intensive awareness session / training on the process to facilitate the nodal offices and government employees for large scale use and wider adoption of eNPS. PFRDA proposes to make the eNPS for government mandatory by 1st April 2022.
eNPS is the online platform hosted by NSDL-CRA on behalf of NPS Trust wherein a subscriber can register and contribute online under NPS. At present, under eNPS, the facility of online registration is available to all citizens of India and corporate sector subscribers. Whereas, the online contribution and tier 2 account activation facility is available to all the registered subscribers, including government sector subscribers having active PRAN under NPS. Now the government employees (who are covered under NPS) will have the facility to register online in NPS and generate Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) through eNPS. The process of registration through eNPS will be a paperless process, wherein the subscriber will submit the registration request through digital signature.
ENTRY UP TO 70 YEARS
In response to the large number of requests received from the existing subscribers to remain invested under NPS beyond 60 years or beyond their superannuation, and the desire from citizens above 65 years to open NPS, it
has been decided to increase the entry age of NPS in the interest of subscribers and benefit them with the opportunity of creating a long-term sustainable pension wealth. The existing age of entry which is 18-65 years has been revised to 18-70 years, according to Gandhi.
OTP/ ESIGN, D-REMIT
PFRDA has been introducing various initiatives to make the system seamless, from entry to exit in NPS. These policy initiatives include subscriber onboarding, exit process, newer methods of subscriber authentication such as OTP/ eSign, offline Aadhaar-based verification, third party KYC verification and online facilities like e-nomination, e-exit same day NAV with d-remit, bank account verification through penny drop etc. New initiatives have been taken by PFRDA like addition of new features in the APY mobile app and availability of the same in UMANG app, updation of APY FAQs, APY subscriber information brochure, APY citizen charter in 13 regional languages for better outreach and for the benefit of APY subscribers as well as APY service-providers.
A/C OPENING: PSB LEADING
During FY 2020-21, more than 7.9 mn new APY subscribers joined Atal Pension Yojana (APY) leading total enrolments to more than 30 mn as on 31st March 2021. Of these, around 70% accounts were opened by public-sector banks (PSBs), while 19% accounts were opened by regional rural banks (RRBs). Pace of enrolments has been encouraging, specially in second half of FY 2020-21 as it took less than 6 months to enrol 5 mn new APY subscribers to reach 30 mn enrolments from 25 mn enrolments.
GROWTH IN DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS
Under the Atal Pension Yojana, more than 2.8 mn new APY accounts have been opened during current FY 202122. Overall, enrolments under APY have crossed 33 mn as on 25th August 2021. Out of total 7.9 mn subscribers who joined APY in the FY 2020-21, State Bank of India sourced 2.2 mn subscribers, i.e. 28% of total enrolments. It was followed by Canara Bank and Indian Bank, which sourced 0.59 mn and 0.52 mn subscribers respectively, during the same period. Further, Bank of Baroda, Airtel Payment Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank,
Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Aryavart Bank and Baroda UP Bank have sourced new APY accounts between 0.1 and 0.5 mn, during FY 2020-21.
TOP POINTS OF PRESENCE
`Point of Presence’ means an intermediary registered with the Authority and capable of electronic connectivity with the central recordkeeping agency for the purposes
of receiving and transmitting funds and instructions and pay out of funds. POP is the first point of interaction between the subscriber and the NPS architecture. POPs and their authorized branches perform the functions relating to registration of subscribers, undertaking Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, receiving contributions and instructions from subscribers and transmission of the same in the NPS architecture. There are 306 registered POPs, and 37 POP SEs (service entities) as on 31 March 2021.
In terms of over-achievement with respect to annual target allocated by Department of Financial Services, banks like Airtel Payment Bank, State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Bank of India, Vidarbh Konkan Gramin Bank, Jharkhand Rajya Gramin Bank, Karnataka Gramin Vikas Bank, Tripura Gramin Bank, Uttarbanga Kshetriya Gramin Bank, Assam Gramin Vikas Bank, Bangiya Gramin Vikas Bank, Aryavart Bank and Tamilnad Mercantile Bank have performed exceptionally well in the Financial Year 2020-21.
UP, BIHAR, WB, MAHA TOPPERS
Among the state-wise distribution, more than 2 mn APY subscribers got enrolled in 5 states as on March 31 2021. UttarPradesh was at the top with 4.54 mn APY enrolments, followed by Bihar with 2.8 mn, West Bengal with 2.39 mn,
Maharashtra with 2.3 mn and Tamil Nadu with 2.3 mn cumulative APY enrollments, as on March 31, 2021. The other 6 states Andhra-Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Odisha have done APY enrolments between 1 and 2mn, as on 31 March, 2021.
1000 PREFERRED MONTHLY
The preference for a pension amount of `1000 per month has increased over last 6 years. Out of the total enrolments under APY, around 77% subscribers have opted for `1000 as monthly pension amount, as on 31st March 2021 in comparison to 38% subscribers who opted for `1000 monthly pension amount, as on 31st March, 2016.
GENDER GAP NARROWING
Also, gender gap in APY enrolments has narrowed with increased participation of female subscribers. Share of female subscribers has increased to 44% as on 31st March, 2021 from 37% as on 31st March, 2016.
AGE PROFILE
Further, age profile of APY subscribers suggests trend of increasing enrolments at younger age. As on 31st March, 2021 more than 43% subscribers are aged between 18 to 25 years, an increase from the earlier level of 29%, as on 31st March 2016.