20 cos line up for pvt pension funds

MUMBAI: The pension regulator has received close to 20 applications from financial services companies to manage private retirement funds.

The list includes top mutual funds, asset management companies (AMCs) and insurance companies.

Finance companies that have applied include, Indiabulls, STCI, Peerless, and IDBI Capital. The AMCs include DSP Blackrock, Bharti Axa, BNP Sundaram, Birla Sun Life AMC, Kotak AMC, ICICI Prudential, HDFC AMC, IDFC AMC and Reliance AMC. The life insurance companies include ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Allianz and Reliance Life Insurance. Besides these, the pension companies floated by State Bank, LIC and UTI have also submitted their proposals.

Thursday was the last day for submitting expression of interest (EoI) to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) for managing assets of citizens covered under the new pension scheme on a voluntary basis.



The eligibility criteria set out by the regulator includes a requirement that the sponsor must have at least five years of experience in running debt and equity funds and should have managed average monthly assets of Rs 8,000 crore for 12 months ended November 30, 2008.

The selected companies shall be required to incorporate the pension fund as a separate company in which direct or indirect foreign investment should not exceed 26% of the paid-up share capital, according to the information memorandum on the regulator���s website.