 "Centre asks states not to delay PF remittances deposit")
The Centre today suggested that states should deposit the remittances collected quickly into the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) system so that they do not lose out on interest.
"Pensions and pension payout have become a very big challenge. They have been growing steadily and the liability for the pension payments is going to cast a very heavy burden on the exchequer," said A N Jha Special secretary Finance Ministry.
He was speaking at a conference for National Pension System (NPS) for state governments.
There has been a delay in the remittances of pension fund collected by the states to the PFRDA resulting in loss of interest, he said, adding, "the primary challenge is how quickly fund is remitted into the system."
The delay in remittances also impacts subsequent investments, he said, observing that it created problems for the centre and the states.
The other challenge, he said, was to innovate mechanism in terms of connectivity and infrastructure for pension payment.
At present, all states except West Bengal and Tripura are part of National Pension System and so far Rs 50,000 crore have come from states under NPS.
Speaking on the occasion, PFRDA chairman Hemant Contractor said Tamil Nadu has issued the notification but is yet to join the NPS.
On raising exposure in equity market, he said: "We have requested for allowing same pattern of investment for the government sector. We have not yet heard from the government on this."
Once the decision is taken, PFRDA will take the issue of investment in equity market with the state governments.
As far as proposal to allow private fund managers to manage government pension funds is concerned, he said, the matter was under consideration.
"We have placed before the government a proposal to allow private sector fund managers to manage government corpus and that matter receiving the government's attention. We have had some discussions with them. They have to take a call" he said.
The total assets under NPS stands at over 1.05 lakh crore.
