India Post as a Point of Presence (POP) for New Pension Scheme (NPS) on behalf of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

Coimbatore March 7, 2010 :Commissioner of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax, C. Rajendiran on Saturday launched the New Pension Scheme (NPS) through India Post as a Point of Presence (POP) wherein the Head Post Offices would initially market the scheme.
Launching the scheme, Mr. Rajendiran said that post offices were a bridge between people and Government departments. The Department would play a pivotal role in every one's life. “Change is a must for growth and post offices have changed over a period both in terms of appearance as well as services”.


He exhorted the postal staff to follow a corporate culture and be a trendsetter for others to emulate and pointed out that network and identity with the people was the strength of the department.


The Postmaster General, Mr. Rajarajan, said that the Department would act as a POP for extending the new pension scheme on behalf of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).


The scheme was being made available through head post offices on an experimental basis in Coimbatore region of Tamil Nadu and Southern Region of Karnataka. In the first phase, 21 head post offices in the nine districts of Western Region namely Coimbatore, R.S. Puram, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Erode, Bhavani, Gobichettipalayam, Namakkal, Tiruchengode, Udhagamandalam, Coonoor, Pollachi, Udumalpet, Salem, Aatur, Suramangalam, Tirupur, Dharapuram, Mettupalayam, Tirupattur and Gudiayattam will act as POP. The department would operationalise the NPS in terms of subscriber registration for opening new pension account, acceptance of forms, verification, processing and forwarding the forms to Central Record Agency-Facilitation Centre, initial contribution processing, regular subscriber contribution upload through Meghdoot Software, subscriber servicing, grievance handling and MIS uploading.


Any Indian citizen in the age group of 18 to 55 years could join and continue till 60 years. Minimum contribution is Rs. 500 a month and Rs 6,000 per annum and there should be a minimum of four contributions. Account holders could decide on the frequency and extent of contribution across the year as per their grievance. Subscribers' contribution would be invested as per the scheme preference opted by the subscriber and options are low risk: low returns, moderate risk: moderate returns and high risk and high returns. The subscriber could opt for the options failing which the investment would be done in auto choice considering the age of the subscriber. The pension contribution would be invested in various schemes by any one of the seven pension fund managers appointed by PFRDA. The return on investments would be in the range of six to seven per cent.


Courtesy : The Hindu