Thanks to the host of changes by government to promote NPS, the AUM has crossed Rs.1.50 lakh crore in October 2016. The total subscriber base is now over 1 crore as compared to 90 lakh subscribers in FY 2015-16.
Additionally, Atal Pension Yojna (APY) has reached over 36 lakh subscribers with AUM of Rs.125 crore as on October 2016.
Let us look at some steps taken by the government this year to promote NPS:
- PFRDA enabled Aadhar based KYC in NPS
- RBI allowed NRIs to invest in NPS
- Mutual fund distributors can now sell NPS after clearing an exam to become a retirement advisor (RA). They are allowed to charge a consultancy fee of 0.02% of AUM from NPS subscribers. This fee ranges between Rs.100 and Rs.1000. They can also charge an on-boarding fee up to Rs.120 per subscriber registration.
- PFRDA slashed the minimum annual contribution in NPS to Rs. 1,000 annually to encourage investors, especially the workers in unorganized sector, to invest in NPS. Also, the regulator reduced the minimum account balance requirement from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 2,000.
