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The National Pension System (NPS) gave an annual average return of as high as 14.19% in 2012-13, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said today.
The highest return of 14.19% was offered in corporate debt scheme, followed by government debt (13.52%), Swavlamban (13.4%), state government (13%), central government (12.39%), and private equity (8.38%).
The Employees Provident Fund Organisation, on the other hand, offered a return of 8.25% on retirement funds last year.
“PFRDA has delivered double digit returns for the financial year 2012-13 and has evidenced itself as not just being the cheapest retirement product but also as the highest returns generating scheme,” the finance ministry said in a statement today.
Last year, PFRDA issued revised guidelines for registration of Pension Fund Managers (PFMs) to manage NPS for the private sector.
SBI Pension Funds, UTI Retirement Solutions, LIC Pension Fund, Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund, Reliance Capital Pension Fund, ICICI Prudential Pension Funds Management, HDFC Pension Management and DSP Black Rock Pension Fund Managers have been registered so far.
PFMs are now allowed to prescribe their own fee subject to ceiling of 0.25% to enable an economically viable model for their operations. PFRDA also recently revised its investment guidelines to allowing PFMs direct investment in equity and corporate debt and not through mutual funds.
NPS, which was introduced by the government in January 2004 for its new entrants and subsequently extended to the private sector in May 2009, has accumulated a corpus of Rs 33,000 crore contributed by 5 million subscribers.
| Scheme | Average Return (in %) |
| Central Government | 12.39 |
| State Government | 13.00 |
| Swavlamban | 13.40 |
| Private: Equity | 8.38 |
| Private: Corporate Debt | 14.19 |
| Private: Government Debt | 13.52 |
