The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance headed by Yeshwant Sinha has recommended up to 26% FDI in the New Pension Scheme(NPS). So far, FDI is not allowed in NPS. This will mean, if accepted by the Government, more problems for the NPS subscribers. At present there are seven Fund Managers for Pension Funds viz. LIC Pension Fund, SBI Pension Fund, UTI Retirement Solutions, IDFC Pension Fund Management Company, ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Management, Kotak Mahendra Pension Fund and Reliance Capital Pensions Fund.
The Standing Committee has also recommended that the NPS should be extended to public and private companies. At present the scheme is for Central Government employees who are recruited from 01-01-2004 onwards. It has also suggested that the returns by the Fund Managers should not be less than what the EPF Organisation is giving ie.9.5%
The entire employees and their organisations are opposing PFRDA Bill and a historic National Convention has already been held in Delhi. The government is trying to get it passed early so that the lakhs of crores of rupees of Pension Funds can be handed over to the Fund managers who are mostly private.
The struggle against the PFRDA Bill has to continue till it is dropped by the Government.