The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has onboarded Shriram Life Insurance Company (SLIC) as the annuity service provider for the NPS scheme. The empanelment will help the insurance company manage the annuity component of the maturity proceeds under the National Pension System (NPS), SLIC said in a release on Wednesday.
The life insurer said its empanelment as an annuity service provider by the pension fund regulator will help garner more NPS subscribers under its annuity plan.
“Shriram Life has a well-priced immediate annuity product and a robust fund management framework. With these, we are gearing up to make the best use of this new opportunity.
“This also provides us with another avenue to provide holistic insurance solutions for our customers,” said Casparus Kromhout, MD & CEO of Shriram Life Insurance Company.
With close to 1.5 crore subscribers under the NPS and with an AUM of more than Rs 7 lakh crore in the country, SLIC’s empanelment as ASP will help it mobilise 40 per cent of the NPS maturity amount, which will be open to investment in annuity schemes, it said.
With its Immediate Annuity Plus plan, SLIC has options for NPS subscribers that offers flexible options for retirees to continue their lives in the same financial conditions as they did before.
The annuity premium mobilisation in India is above Rs 25,000 crore per year.
As NPS subscriptions mature and subscribers retire, this opportunity will expand further.
This will also enable customers to choose from an array of insurance providers who provide rewarding annuity plans according to their needs and lifestyle.
The annuity service provider is an IRDA-registered insurance company empanelled by PFRDA for providing annuity services to NPS subscribers upon their exit from the system.
ASPs are responsible for managing the funds (allocated for buying annuity) and payment of the pension after a subscriber attains the age of 60.