Highlights

NEW DELHI: The government may hike foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the pension sector to 74 per cent and a Bill in this regard is expected to come in the next Parliament session, according to sources.

Last month, Parliament approved a Bill to increase FDI limit in the insurance sector from 49 per cent to 74 per cent. The Insurance Act, 1938 was last amended in 2015 which raised FDI limit to 49 per cent, resulting in foreign capital inflow of Rs 26,000 crore in the last 5 years.

Amendment to Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act, 2013 seeking to raise FDI limit in the pension sector may come in the monsoon session or winter session depending on various approvals, sources said.

Currently, the FDI in the pension fund is capped at 49 per cent.

Besides, sources said, the amendment Bill may contain separation of NPS Trust from the PFRDA.

The powers, functions and duties of the NPS Trust, which are currently laid down under the PFRDA (National Pension System Trust) Regulations 2015, may come under a charitable trust or the Companies Act, they said.

The intent behind this is to keep NPS Trust separate from the pension regulator and managed competent board of 15 members. Out of this, the majority of members are likely to be from the government as they, including states, are the biggest contributor to the corpus.

The PFRDA was established for promoting and ensuring the orderly growth of the pension sector with sufficient powers over pension funds, the central recordkeeping agency and other intermediaries. It also safeguards the interest of members.

The National Pension System (NPS) was introduced by the Government of India to replace the defined benefit pension system. NPS was made mandatory for all new recruits to the central government service from January 1, » The National Pension System (NPS) was introduced by the Government of India to replace the defined benefit pension system

» NPS was made mandatory for all new recruits to the central government service from January 1, 2004

» And has also been rolled out for all citizens with effect from May 1, 2009, on voluntary basis

2004, (except the armed forces in the first stage) and has also been rolled out for all citizens with effect from May 1, 2009, on voluntary basis.

The government had made a conscious move to shift from the defined benefit, pay-asyou-go pension scheme to defined contribution pension scheme, NPS, due to rising and unsustainable pension bill. The transition aimed at freeing the limited resources of the government for more productive and socio-economic sectoral development.

NEW DELHI: Power consumption in the country grew nearly 47 per cent in the first week of April to 28.34 billion units (BU) over the corresponding period a year ago, showing robust recovery in industrial and commercial demand of electricity, according to power ministry data.

Power consumption in the first week of April last year (from April 1 to 7, 2020) was was recorded at 19.33 BU.

On the other hand, the peak power demand met, which is the highest supply in a day, during first week this month remained well above the highest record of 132.20 GW in the same period in April 2020.

During the first week this month, peak power demand touched the highest level of 181.05 GW on April 7, 2021, and recorded a growth of 27 per cent over 132.20 GW recorded in the entire month of April last year.

Power consumption in April last year had dropped to 84.55 BU from 110.11 BU in same month in 2019. This happened mainly because of fewer economic activities following imposition of lockdown by the government in the last week of March 2020 to contain the spread of deadly COVID-19.

Similarly, peak power

Currently, the FDI in the pension fund is capped at 49 per cent. Besides, sources said, the amendment Bill may contain separation of NPS Trust from the PFRDA

demand met also slumped to 132.20 GW in April last year from 176.81GW in the same month in 2019, showing the impact of lockdown on economic activities.

Experts are of the view that high growth in power consumption as well as demand in first week this month is mainly because of base erosion last year due to lockdown, but it clearly indicates recovery in commercial and industrial demand.

However, they cautioned that local lockdowns to curb the surge of COVID-19 positive cases may impact power consumption adversely with slump in commercial and industrial demand of electricity in coming days.

After a gap of six months, power consumption had recorded a 4.6 per cent yearon-year growth in September and 11.6 per cent in October.

In November 2020, the power consumption growth slowed to 3.12 per cent, mainly due to the early onset of winters.

In December, power consumption grew by 4.5 per cent while it was 4.4 per cent in January 2021.

Power consumption in February this year recorded higher at 104.11 BU compared to 103.81 BU last year despite the fact that 2020 was a leap year.

In March this year, the power consumption grew nearly 23 per cent to 121.51 BU compared to 98.95 BU in same month of 2020.

During the entire fiscal of 2020-21, power consumption dipped by one per cent to 1,271.54 BU from 1,284.44 BU in 2019-20.

NEW DELHI: IT services major Infosys on Sunday said its board will consider a buyback proposal at its meeting on April 14.

“The board of the company will consider a proposal for buyback of fully paid-up equity shares of the company at its meeting to be held on April 14, 2021, in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Buy-back of Securities) Regulations, 2018,” Infosys said in a regulatory filing.

The outcome of the board meeting will be disseminated to the stock exchanges after conclusion of the board meeting on April 14, the regulatory filing added.

The board of the Bengaluru-based company is slated to meet on April 13 and 14, 2021, to approve and take on record the audited consolidated financial results of the company and its subsidiaries for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2021.

In August 2019, Infosys had bought back 11.05 crore of its shares under its Rs 8,260-crore buyback offer.

Infosys had completed its maiden buyback of Rs 13,000 crore in December 2017, comprising 11.3 crore equity shares at a price of Rs 1,150 per share.