After the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI), an Association of NPS Intermediaries (ANI) has been set up to regulate the pension sector. This comes at a time when total subscribers in the pension sector are over 80 million, including 64 million in Atal Pension Yojana, of which about 16 million are NPS subscribers, and the corpus of the pension scheme 13.8 lakh is Rs. crore Keeping this in mind, we expect the figure to be Rs 15 lakh crore by the end of the year,” says Deepak Mohanty, Chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

The ANI is a collective platform representing all stakeholders in the NPS ecosystem. It is committed to improving the efficiency of the system, strengthening the welfare of subscribers and working with policy makers to shape the future of retirement planning in India. ANI stakeholders are points of presence (banks and non-banks), central record keeping agencies, trust banks, custodians, aggregators, annuity service providers, pension agents, retirement advisors and other participants in the sector

The main objectives of the association are:

• Promote NPS as a reliable, flexible and tax efficient retirement product
• Focus on the welfare of subscribers by ensuring smooth and transparent processes within the system
• Collaborate with regulators and policy makers to improve the NPS framework and contribute to the development of the pension market in India

Speaking to the media, Mohanty emphasized on the expansion of the NPS industry, driven by growing investor awareness, government initiatives through PFRDA and NPS, and the trust and support of a strong network of ‘intermediaries.

He also said that NPS has become the most tax-efficient post-retirement savings product today. To target a younger population, the regulatory body is also collaborating with digital companies and working to make the NPS transparent, with the settlement of T+O the infrastructure is already very convenient for the investor. NPS also has systematic withdrawal and provides continuity to your retirement savings and even NRIs can avail this, added Mohanty.