The full report can be viewed by clicking on the following link.
1.
Financial Inclusion
Financial
Inclusion is an important priority of the Government. The objective of
Financial Inclusion is to extend financial
services to the large hitherto unserved population of the country to unlock its
growth potential. To extend the reach of banking to those outside the formal
banking system, various initiatives are undertaken by the Government of India
and Reserve Bank of India from time to time.
(a) Expansion of Bank Branch Network: Public
Sector Banks have opened 3456 branches during the year 2014-15 (Till 30.11.2014).
(b) Expansion of ATM Network: Public
Sector Banks have opened 12980 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) during the year
2014-15 (Till 30.11.2014) and number of ATMs have increased from 1,10,424 as on
31.03.2014 to 1,23,404 as on 30.11.2014.
(c) Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana: Prime
Minister had announced Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) on 15th August,
2014 and it was formally launched on 28th August, 2014. The Yojana
envisages universal access to banking facilities with atleast one basic banking
account for every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and
pension. The beneficiaries would get a RuPay Debit Card having inbuilt accident
insurance cover of `1.00 lakh. In addition, there is a life insurance cover of `30,000/-
to those people who opened their bank accounts for the first time between
15.08.2014 to 26.01.2015 and meet other eligibility conditions of the Yojana. Under
PMJDY, banks have been given target to carry out surveys in allocated Sub
Service Areas (SSAs) and Wards and to open accounts of all uncovered households
by 26.01.2015. As on 07.01.2015, 21.07 crore households have been surveyed out
of which accounts of 20.98 crore households have been opened i.e. coverage of 99.60
%. Accounts of remaining 0.09 crore households shall be opened before
26.01.2015. PMJDY is successfully being implemented by the banks. As on
10.01.2015, 11.07 crore accounts have been opened and 9.26 crore RuPay Cards
have been issued to the eligible account holders. Total amount deposited in
these accounts is `8698.01 crore.
2.
Pension Reforms
The
pension sector reforms were initiated in India to establish a robust and
sustainable social security arrangement in the country against the backdrop
that only about 12-13 per cent of the total workforce was covered by any formal
social security system.
The
National Pension System (NPS) has been introduced by the Government of India
with effect from 1st January, 2004 mandatorily for all new recruits to the
Government (except Armed
Forces),
replacing the existing system of defined benefit pension system. Based on
individual choice, it is envisaged as a low-cost and efficient pension system
backed by sound regulation. As a pure “Defined Contribution” product with no
defined benefit element, returns would be totally market-related. The NPS provides
various investment options and choices to individuals
to
switch over from one investment option to another or from one fund manager to
another, subject to certain regulatory restrictions.
Scope
of the National Pension System
Pension
Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) which was constituted through
a Government Resolution has attained the statutory status with the enactment of
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (PFRDA Act, 2013)
by Parliament in September, 2013.
The
PFRDA Act, 2013 was brought into force with effect from 1st February, 2014. The
creation of a statutory PFRDA may facilitate in providing protection and social
security to the people in their old age, particularly those in the informal and
the unorganised sector.
NPS
has also been rolled out to all citizens
with effect from 1st May, 2009 on a voluntary basis. The process of making NPS available
to all citizens entailed the appointment of NPS intermediaries, including sixty
four institutional entities as Points of Presence (POPs) that will serve as
pension account opening and collection centers, a Centralised Record Keeping
Agency (CRA) and eight Pension Fund Managers (PFMs) to manage the pension
wealth of the investors. PFRDA adopted a transparent, non-discretionary,
competitive bidding process for selection of NPS intermediaries including PFMs
in line with best international practice, which ensured high quality service
delivery for NPS subscribers at optimum cost.
In
order to facilitate the organised entities to move their existing and the new
employees to NPS architecture, a customized version of the core NPS Model,
known as the “NPS- Corporate Sector Model” has been introduced since December
2011. As on December 31, 2014, 1526 corporates and 3.35 lakh employees have
been enrolled under this model. The AUM under NPSCorporate Sector Model is ` 4837.60
crore.
A
number of changes have been introduced to energize NPS in the current year.
i.
Seven Annuity Service Providers (ASPs) have been empanelled to offer annuity
schemes to subscribers on maturity of NPS account. These are:-
1.
Life Insurance Corporation of India
2.
SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
3.
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
4.
Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
5.
Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
6.
Reliance Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
7.
HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
ii.
A Request for Proposal was issued on 16th January 2014 for selection of Pension
Fund under National Pension System (NPS) for Private Sector to transparently
and competitively determine the Investment Management Fees (IMF), which have
significant impact on terminal pension wealth of the subscribers.
iii.
Acceptance of e-KYC as a valid process for KYC verification –
It
has now been decided to accept e-KYC service launched by UIDAI as a valid
process for KYC verification in consultation with Unique Identification Authority
of India (UIDAI). The information authenticated and transferred by UIDAI
containing demographic details and photograph as a result of e-KYC process
shall be treated as sufficient proof of Identity and Address of the client.
iv.
Exit guidelines under National Pension System –
Option
for Complete withdrawal of accumulated pension wealth by subscriber - It has
been decided to provide an option to withdraw the entire accumulated pension
wealth to subscribers other than the subscribers of NPS Lite –Swavalamban
Scheme, subject to the condition that the accumulated pension wealth in the
subscribers permanent retirement account is equal to or less than ` 2,00,000/-
at the time of superannuation for government employee subscribers or upon
attaining the age of 60 years for subscribers falling under All Citizen Model
and Corporate Model.
v.
Registration of Government employees aged 60 years and above under National
Pension System (NPS) –
PFRDA
has decided to enroll all eligible Government employees (Central & State)
who are on the rolls of the Government in to NPS, irrespective of the age at
the time of entry, subject to the condition that the total period of contribution
to NPS account shall not be more than 42 years.
The
NPS applications of such subscribers need to be submitted through the
appropriate nodal officer of the Govt/ Deptt, in line with the procedure
adopted for NPS registration for Government employees aged below 60 years.
Also, the responsibility for ensuring that the employee is eligible for being
covered under NPS and that the NPS contribution is not paid beyond 42 years
during the entire service period for such an employee, lies with the department
submitting the Subscriber Registration Form.
vi.
Portability of PRAN – NPS Lite/Swavalamban to NPS –
All
Citizen Model and other sectors - A subscriber under the platform NPS
Lite/Swavalamban desirous of joining the All Citizen Model can now join the NPS
Regular platform under All Citizen model. This has been done to meet the demands
for NPS Lite/Swavalamban subscribers who one joined the NPS lite platform but
wanted to shift to NPS Regular model due to various reasons seeking porting of their
PRANs from NPS Lite/Swavalamban to the All Citizen Model of NPS (UOS) through
an Inter platform shift process.
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