- “Remarkable growth in NPS subscribers over the years with 74.10 lakh government employees in the scheme and 28.37 lakh individuals joining from the non-government sector” – Supratim Bandyopadhyay, PFRDA Chairman
- Partnering with PFRDA for over a period of two years, Hero Mindmine touched-base with 136,700 personnel directly and countless others
The year 2020 gave financial distress to every individual across the world. In India, low-income and underserved people struggled the most to cope with the catastrophic economic collapse due to COVID-19. The need of creating a financially inclusive system in India has never been more challenging or more significant.
Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Chairman, PFRDA at FridayLearning, an initiative by Hero Mindmine of Hero Enterprise, spoke about “Role of NPS in Retirement Benefits Planning”, where he discussed pension landscapes, features and benefits of NPS, retirement benefit schemes, replacement rates on superannuation and answered questions from the audience.
Speaking during the session, Mr Bandyopadhyay said, “Financial literacy will help raise the standard of living and investing in NPS will give individuals financial security even after their income sources dry at the time of retirement. With a population of over 1.3 billion, emphasis on financial education will make a long-lasting impact on the populace.”
Read More: EY Announces Industry Cloud Innovations to Help Organizations Accelerate Business Transformation
An incredibly important financial priority is planning for your retirement from an early age. With limited but regular long-term investments, the safest way to prepare for retirement is to rely on the National Pension System (NPS), which is a pension scheme notified by the Government and is available to public, private and unorganised employees.
PFRDA has witnessed remarkable growth in NPS subscribers over the years with 74.10 lakh government employees in the scheme and 28.37 lakh individuals joining from the non-government sector. “With the total subscriber base of NPS and APY increasing to 4.28 crore in the last fiscal year, the faith of public in PFRDA has increased tremendously. This achievement shows that due to the pandemic individuals have started giving a lot of importance to financial planning, especially planning for their retirement,” Mr Bandyopadhyay added.
According to a report by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC), only 24 per cent of the Indian adult population is financially literate. In comparison to other major emerging economies, the financial literacy rate in India is amongst the lowest. Mr Bandyopadhyay explained that inter-state disparities, lack of formal training and limited awareness about financial concepts are some reasons identified for the above.
Addressing this important issue, Hero Mindmine over the last 24 months trained Central and State Government employees, Private Organisations, Rural Banks and associated stakeholders on various aspects relating to NPS and Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
Pension regulator, PFRDA appointed Hero Mindmine in 2018 to create mass awareness and impart training on NPS and APY. The programme involved, reaching out to employees at Points of Presence, APY service providers and corporates across India. Participants from Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal were imparted training on various aspects of the aforementioned flagship social security programmes.
Hero Mindmine’s approach focussed on 5 ‘Cs’ namely Content, Capacity, Communication, Collaboration and Community. During the two year span, more than 3000 training sessions were conducted with 40-50 participants in sessions of 3-4 hours duration each. The nodal officers of central and state governments and those in state autonomous bodies were also trained. Hero Mindmine trainers were able to touch-base 136,700 personnel directly and countless others in an indirect manner.
Jogendra Singh, President- Finance, Hero Enterprise, said, “The team at Hero Mindmine takes pride in being able to create value for the nation by playing a constructive role in enhancing national financial literacy. These schemes are of immense benefit to employees of both the unorganised and the organised sectors.”
