After receiving a poor response to the New Pension System (NPS), the pension regulator has asked the distributors of the scheme to set sales targets.
In a recent meeting with points of presence (PoP), which act as contact centres for potential subscribers, the regulator asked them to prepare a business plan for the scheme.
“We have not fixed any targets. But we have asked PoPs to set targets for selling NPS. We have asked them to give us their business plan on the basis of what their subscriber base is going to be in the next six months or one year,” Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman D Swarup said.
Swarup said PFRDA would not influence them in setting their targets. “The idea is not to push them to have more people. In a month’s time, their business plan should be with us and accordingly we will see where we can help them,” he added.
The regulator is also planning to do an in-depth data analysis of the subscribers as the numbers grow. According to preliminary information, most of its subscribers are younger people who prefer to invest in equity. Apart from bigger cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, the scheme has also seen interest from Tier-II cities.
“At the moment, the numbers are too small to analyse the data. Based on whatever information we have, I can say a lot of people in the age group of 25-35 have invested. We will do official sampling once the subscriber numbers cross at least 10,000,” said another PFRDA official.
About 6,50,000 people from the government and over 2,000 customers from the informal sector have joined the scheme. The scheme, earlier restricted to government employees, was opened for all the citizens on the country on May 1.
