The new government workers, who joined service after January 1, 2004, have now been permitted to invest around 15% of their pension funds in equities and MFs.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has granted the fund managers of new pension scheme (NPS) to invest around 5% straightly in equities and an extra 10% in mutual fund schemes.

The PFRDA has chosen three fund managers including Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), State Bank of India (SBI) and UTI Asset Management Company, n order to ease seamless fund relocation and in the selection of fund managers.

The regulator, on yesterday, has nominated National Security Depository Limited (NSDL) as the central record keeping agency (CRA) for 10 years.

The CRA would maintain records of each & every individual NPS subscriber and how they have been invested by various fund managers. The subscriber would have the right to change the fund manager. The government is expected to transfer the funds to fund managers by June.

D Swarup, PFRDA Chairman said, “We have signed an agreement with National Securities Depository Ltd, appointing it as Central Recordkeeping Agency for the New Pension Scheme for all Central government employees recruited since January 1, 2004.”

Presently, 19 states have decided to connect the NPS soon, Mr. Swarup said.

The fund managers would provide an alternative to employees to spend 100% of their pension money in government securities with assured returns.