Home BusinessNPS annual fee may come down by Rs 70
The annual maintenance charges for subscribers of the New Pension System (NPS) may come down by Rs 70 from April. National Securities Depository (NSDL), the record-keeper for NPS, expects over one million people to join the scheme in the next six months, leading to a reduction in the account maintenance fees from Rs 350 to Rs 280.
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“When the number of subscribers, including government employees, reaches 3 million, the charges will further drop to Rs 250 per year,” said a senior NSDL executive. So far, about 6,50,000 people from the government sector and over 2,000 from the informal sector have joined the scheme, whose total assets under management are about Rs 3,000 crore.
As charges drop, the transaction fees will also come down to Rs 6 and subsequently to Rs 4 per transaction from Rs 10 at present, according to the executive. “More people will join the scheme when the Tier-II withdrawable account is operationalised in December. NSDL will maintain both the accounts for the cost of one (Rs 350),” he further added.
NSDL is also working on a low-cost NPS account. This will be similar to a no-frills bank account where the user will get limited features at a minimal cost. “A person going for a low-cost account will not have an online facility. The number of transactions will also be limited,” he said.
According to the Invest India Economic Foundation, which advised the government on pension reforms, about 80 million people of the 370 million unorganised sector workers in India are capable of buying pension products.