NSDL ups effort to become record-keeper for pension funds

The National Securities Depository Ltd. is aiming hard to become the record-keeping agency for pension accounts in the country, chairman and managing director CB Bhave said.

India's retail investors are on a rise. The number of dematerialised accounts have almost doubled in the last 2-3 years. With the pension sector opening up and a regulator being appointed, there is an urgent need to set up a record-keeping agency for smooth operations in this sector, Bhave said.

The government has not yet appointed any such agency for the pension funds and the company has scaled up efforts to become one, he added, saying that with so many regulations in place, there was little possibility of the current stock-market rally fizzling out, because of any bubble.

Further on, he added that the possibility of a Harshad Mehta or a Ketan Parekh kind of stock-scam happening, appeared to be bleak as now, there are a number of regulations in place.

Bhave felt that the sudden withdrawal of foreign funds would not adversely affect Indian economy as retail participation in the market had increased significantly.

"The number of demat accounts in the country have increased to 6.6 million from a low of 3.8 million two or three years back. Most of the accounts are of individual investors," Bhave said.

He added that about 400,000 requests per month were being received from retail investors for opening demat accounts and added that the phenomenon was not a recent one, but has been happening for some time now.

It showed increased confidence and participation of retail investors in the capital market.