The National Pension Fund (NPS) scheme is offered by government and regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) which is specifically designed to help citizens to meet their financial demands even after retiring. It offers many benefits. It provides premature withdrawal facility and also offers tax benefits. It is considered to be a safe mode for investing.
Any Indian citizen who is over the age of 18 years is eligible for enrolling into this scheme if the person has complied with KYC (Know Your Customer) standards. Non-Resident Indian (NRI) are also eligible for this scheme. But if NRI is subjected to any sort of change in status of citizenship, the account hosted would be shut down. One cannot open more than accounts under this scheme. People who have subscribed to the scheme can opt to exit the plan before retiring or go for superannuation.
Currently, there are 8 pension fund managers in the nation namely LIC Pension Fund, Reliance Pension Fund, ICICI Prudential Pension Funds Management Company Limited, Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund Limited, SBI Pension Funds Private Limited, Aditya Birla Sun Life Pension Management Limited, HDFC Pension Management Company Limited, UTI Retirement Solutions Limited. Among these managers, there are only two fund managers, SBI Pension Funds and UTI Retirement Solutions that manage pension contributions of public sector under NPS.
If we view the statistics of NPS state government scheme in last five years, we can see that SBI Pension Fund offers highest returns of 10.45% in comparison to any other pension fund. The assets under management in May 2019 is recorded to be Rs 57,474.92 crores. As of statistics of NPS central government scheme for last five years, SBI Pension Fund again shown more growth and generated the highest returns of 10.39% in the past five years. Viewing stats of NPS Tier-1, HDFC Pension Fund shows maximum growth in last five years. Viewing the returns of different pension funds in case investments feature an equal split across Equity, Corporate Bonds and Government Bonds, HDF Pension Management again shows best results. While analysing the results, SBI Pension and ICICI Prudential Pension show a close comparison in the case of equal split portfolio.
Well, one can consider the statistics and see the result of these pension funds in the sector of concern, mostly SBI Pension Fund has outshined and so did HDFC Pension Fund in different fields. Therefore, it is important to note you’re the areas of your concern while reviewing the statistics and see how different pension funds have done. Also, while deciding among different pension funds, research about different features and areas where these pension funds might lack and how it hampers your objective.