THE NPS STARS
These fund managers made sure that those looking to build a big retirement fund benefit from the best of both worlds — equity as well as debt
NPS is a defined contribution retirement savings scheme introduced for central government employees on April 1, 2004. It was made available for everybody in May 2009. Anybody aged between 18 and 60 years can invest on a voluntary basis. Employers can also contribute to the NPS account of the employees and claim tax deduction on it. The number of subscribers under NPS increased from 85.6 lakh in March 2015 to 122.11 lakh in March 2016. The AUM went up from Rs 79,335 crore to Rs 1,18,810 crore. There are three investment plans under NPS — corporate bond, government bond and equity. Under the equity plan, the allocation to equity can go up to 50 per cent. It's time to reward the pension fund managers who have done better than others.
For selection of winners, Value Research was our knowledge partner. The winners are selected on the basis of three years’ annualised return of the Tier 1 funds in different categories as on March 31, 2016.
UTI RETIREMENT SOLUTIONS: EQUITY PENSION FUND OF THE YEAR
UTI Retirement Solutions is a 100 per cent subsidiary of UTI Asset Management Company and was incorporated in December 2007. As on March 31, 2016, its AUM was Rs 35,918 crore.
“Consistent returns with low volatility while focusing on high credit quality of papers is the key to our investment philosophy. Disciplined approach, Strong in-house research capabilities & money management experience have been factors in achieving this performance,” says Balram Bhagat, CEO, UTI Retirement Solutions.
ICICI PRUDENTIAL PENSION FUNDS MANAGEMENT COMPANY: GOVERNMENT BONDS PENSION FUND OF THE YEAR AND CORPORATE DEBT PENSION FUND OF THE YEAR
ICICI Prudential Pension Funds Management Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company. It began operations in May 2009 after it was appointed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority ( PFRDA) as a pension fund manager. The AUM increased from Rs 369 crore in March 2015 to Rs 701 crore in March 2016.
"The NPS scheme is a simple, fl exible and effi cient fi nancial savings product to build a corpus over the long term. Customers will rely on the corpus generated through this savings product in their golden years. We therefore, focus on providing safety, stability, growth and consistent performance over the long term. We maintain a diversifi ed portfolio of high quality assets," says Meghana Baji, CEO, ICICI Prudential Pension Funds Management Company.