On July 20, as said to reporters by the Chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), Supratim Bandyopadhyay, the investment universe of pension fund managers (PFMs) will be expanded to top 200 companies from those in the segment of Future & Options (F&O) with a ₹5,000 crore-plus market cap.
In addition, PFMs will be soon allowed to invest in initial public offering (IPO), follow-on public offering (FPOs) as well as offer for sale (OFS) issues. Such investments will be subject to terms and conditions.
The Chairman stated, “We will soon announce the investment guidelines. When it comes to IPOs, we will have some restrictions meaning that PFMs would be able to invest only in offers above a certain threshold.”
Regarding PFMs, he added that Axis Mutual Fund, which was meant to be counted as a private sector PFM is waiting to receive RBI approval.
The pension regulator has enabled on-tap licence for the selection of PFMs. Without disclosing actual figures, Bandyopadhyay told that PFRDA was considering to select a couple of new PFMs.
Furthermore, the Chairman has also talked about the proposal to allow withdrawals through Systematic Withdrawal Plans (SWP) in place of annuities, which is a part of the PFRDA bill.
The regulatory body is planning to introduce a Minimum Assured Returns Scheme for customers with low risk appetite.
