The government has formed a committee to see if PFRDA can regulator all pension schemes offered by fund houses and life insurance companies, said Dr. BS Bhandari, Whole Time Director, PFRDA. He was speaking to media on the sidelines of 5th CII Distribution Summit held recently in Mumbai.
Since PFRDA Act empowers the pension fund regulator to regulate all kinds of pension business in India, PFRDA has sought clarification from the government to know if it can regulate the pension schemes offered by AMCs and life insurance companies, he said.
He further said that if this goes through, PFRDA will ask fund houses and life insurers to take approval from PFRDA to run pension schemes.
Currently, SEBI regulates pension schemes offered by AMCs. However, they are required to take CBDT approval to offer tax benefits to investors before launching such products. Similarly, IRDAI regulates pension schemes offered by life insurance companies.
Earlier, PFRDA Chairman Hemant G Contractor had said that the pension fund regulator may ask fund houses and insurers to remove the word ‘retirement’ or ‘pension’ from scheme name. He was speaking on the sidelines of 18th CII Insurance Summit held in Mumbai.
