India 2018

258 India 2018
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
With a view to increasing banking penetration and promoting financial inclusion
and with the main objective of covering all households with at least one bank
account per household across the country, a National Mission on financial
inclusion named as (PMJDY) was announced in 2014.
Objectives of PMJDY include: (i) universal access to banking facilities for
all households across the country through a bank branch or a fixed point business
correspondent (BC) within a reasonable distance. (ii) to cover all households
with atleast one basic bank account with RuPay Debit card having inbuilt
accident insurance cover of ` 1 lakh.
Pension Reforms
National Pension System
With a view to providing adequate retirement income, the National Pension
System (NPS) was introduced. It has been made mandatory for all new recruits
to the Government (except armed forces) with effect from January 1, 2004 and
has also been rolled out for all citizens with effect from May 1, 2009 on a
voluntary basis. The features of the NPS design are: self-sustainability, portability
and scalability. Based on individual choice, it is envisaged as a low cost and
efficient pension system backed by sound regulation. As a pure 'defined
contribution' product, returns would be totally market driven. The NPS provides
various investment options and choices to individuals to switch over from one
option to another or from one fund manager to another, subject to certain
regulatory restrictions. The NPS architecture is transparent and web enabled. It
allows a subscriber to monitor his/ her investments and returns. The facility
for seamless portability is designed to enable subscribers to maintain a single
pension account (Permanent Retirement Account Number-PRAN) throughout
the saving period. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
(PFRDA), set-up as a regulatory body for the pension sector, is engaged in
consolidating the initiatives taken so far regarding the full NPS architecture
and expanding the reach of NPS distribution network. The process of making
NPS available to all citizens entailed the appointment of NPS intermediaries,
including institutional entities as Point of Presence (POPs) that serve as pension
account opening and collection centers, a Centralized Record Keeping Agency
(CRA) and Pension Funds to manage the pension wealth of the investors. The
Department of Posts has also been appointed as PoP in addition to other financial
institutions which expand the PoP-SP network by more than five times.
Swavalamban Scheme
To encourage the workers in the unorganized sector to save voluntarily for
their old age, an initiative called Swavalamban Scheme was launched in 2010.
It is a co-contributory pension scheme whereby the Central Government
contributes a sum of ` 1,000 per annum in each NPS account opened having a
saving of ` 1,000 to ` 12,000 per annum. Government co-contribution is available