Pension reforms is one of the most important and yet the hardest component of India's "second generation" economic reforms. The field of pensions involves complex questions of political economy, and interlocking considerations spanning finance, labour markets, demography, public finance, macroeconomics and behavioral science. For these reasons, pension reforms worldwide have been difficult to execute, and often achieve second-best or third-best outcomes. India embarked on pension reforms in 1998. India's pension reform spans many agencies and has made remarkable progress in laying sound foundations of a modern, well designed pension system. A chronology of the main events that have shaped India's pension reform over the last 8 years is provided below.

India embarked on pension reforms in 1998. India 's pension reform spans many agencies and has made remarkable progress in laying sound foundations of a modern, well designed pension system. A chronology of the main events that have shaped India 's pension reform over the last 8 years is provided below.

1998
•  Ministry of Welfare (later renamed Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) commissions Project    OASIS to Invest India Economic Foundation (IIEF) (July) •  MoSJE sets up an eight-member inter-ministerial expert committee under Project OASIS. The Project OASIS    expert committee includes Surendra A. Dave (Chairman), Anand Bordia (MoSJE), C.S. Rao (Ministry of    Finance), Late R.S. Kaushik (Central Provident Fund Commissioner, MOL), Ajay Shah (IGIDR), Ashok Pal    Singh (MoSJE), Nalin Thakore and Gautam Bhardwaj (Member-Secretary). (August) •  OASIS Committee commissions 14 background papers (August) •  India 's first pensions policy conference hosted by MoSJE and IIEF in Goa (November)
1999
•  First Project OASIS Report (dealing with improvements to existing pension and PF provisions) presented by    Maneka Gandhi (Minister of State, MoSJE) to Yashwant Sinha, then Union Finance Minister of India    (February) •  Government constitutes Working Group for 'Assessment of Pensionery Liability of the Government of India'    under A. M. Sehgal (October)
2000
•  OASIS Committee submits its final report to MoSJE (January) •  Maneka Gandhi (MoSJE) submits final OASIS report to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Prime Minister of India    (January) •  Second IIEF pensions policy conference on OASIS with MoSJE (April) •  Asian Development Bank (ADB) commissions a technical assistance project on reform of Employees'    Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) (May) •  Four-member Government of India pensions mission visits Sweden and USA (June)
2001
•  Road-map for a new restructured DC pension scheme for civil servants and the general public announced    during the Union Budget by then finance minister, Yashwant Sinha (February) •  Ministry of Finance commissions Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to review the    OASIS Report and propose a pension scheme for the unorganised sector workforce; A working group on    pension reforms for the unorganised sector set up under N. Rangachary (March) •  World Bank report on India 's pension system submitted to Government of India (April) •  A. M. Sehgal Committee report on pensionery liabilities of the GOI submitted to the Government (June) •  High Level Expert Group (HLEG) on New Pension System constituted by Ministry of Personnel, Public    Grievances and Pensions under B. K. Bhattacharya (July) •  ADB's EPFO reforms TA report submitted (August) •  IRDA submits its report on urganised sector pension reforms (October) •  Government refers the OASIS and IRDA reports to a Group of Ministers under Dr. K. C. Pant, deputy    chairman of the Planning Commission (November)
2002
•  HLEG under B.K. Bhattacharya submits its report on the New Pension System (February) •  Group of Ministers on Pension Reforms holds its first meeting (April) •  Third IIEF pension policy conference at New Delhi (October)
2003
•  Then finance minister Jaswant Singh announces a new DC pension scheme for civil servants and other        workers during the Union Budget 2003-04 (February) •  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sets up a 'Group to Study the Pension Liabilities of the State Governments'    under B. K. Bhattacharya (February) •  Government of Tamil Nadu issues a Notification bringing its new employees into a new DC pension scheme    from 01 April 2003 (April) •  Government of Himachal Pradesh issues a Notification bringing its new employees into a new DC pension    scheme from 01 January 2004 (May) •  World Bank approves Institutional Development Fund for supporting capacity building in pension reform at    State and Central Government level (June) •  The Union Cabinet approves the proposal to implement the 2003-04 Budget proposal for introducing a new    DC pension scheme for new central government employees (except armed forces) and unorganised    sector workers; The Union Cabinet also approves the establishment of the interim Pension Fund Regulatory    and Development Authority (PFRDA) (August) •  Fourth IIEF pension policy conference with ASSOCHAM and release of 'Rethinking Pension Provision for    India ' by the Union Labour Minister (September) •  Government of India issues Resolution and establishes the interim PFRDA (October) •  The RBI state pension liability report is finalised (October) •  Fifth annual IIEF pension policy conference hosted at New Delhi (December) •  The DEA notifies new pension and provident fund rules effective on a mandatory basis for central          government employees recruited on or after 01 January 2004; DEA also notifies the features of this New    Pension System (NPS) (December) •  World Bank asked to work with six state governments to estimate pension liabilities (December)
2004
•  NPS introduced for central (civil) government employees (January) •  Interim PFRDA set up; Vinod Rai appointed chairman with additional charge, U. K. Sinha and Madhusudan    Prasad appointed as part-time Members (January) •  DEA appoints IIEF as consultant for pension reforms and NPS implementation (February) •  Government of Rajasthan issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme from 01 January 2004 (March) •  Draft policy document on central recordkeeping and NPS process engineering produced by IIEF (April) •  Government appoints Vineeta Rai as chairperson of the interim PFRDA; Anand Bordia and P.N.    Venkatachalam appointed full-time members (May) •  ADB commissions a technical assistance project on pension reforms for the unorganised sector to UNSW    and IIEF (May) •  World Bank hosts workshop on state government pensions in New Delhi (June) •  Union Budget 2004-05 announcement specifies an EET treatment for pensions under the NPS;    Announcement made of Government's intent to put in place suitable legislation to provide a regulatory    framework for NPS (June) •  IIEF produces the draft policy document on pension fund managers (July) •  Government dismantles the interim PFRDA Board (July) •  P. Chidambaram, union finance minister convenes a meeting with industry chambers and independent    experts on pension reforms regulation of the NPS (August) •  Government of Andhra Pradesh issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme from 01 September 2004 (September) •  Sixth IIEF pension policy conference and first national workshop on NPS for state finance secretaries    jointly hosted with DEA and ADB (October) •  Chhatisgarh issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension scheme from 01    November 2004 (October) •  The Union Cabinet approves a proposal to promulgate an Ordinance to establish the PFRDA as a statutory    regulatory body (November) •  Government of Jharkhand issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme from 01 December 2004 (December) •  The PFRDA Ordinance is promulgated (December) •  Government of Manipur issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension scheme    from 01 January 2005 (December)
2005
•  The Union Cabinet decides to introduce the PFRDA Bill, 2005 in the Budget Session 2005-06 (January) •  The Government of Assam issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme from 01 February 2005 (January) •  The Government of Gujarat issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme from 01 April 2005 (March) •  The Government tables the PFRDA Bill, 2005 during the Budget session of the Parliament (March) •  Government of Uttar Pradesh issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme from 01 April 2005; GoUP also provides a voluntary option to existing employees with less than 10    years service to switch to this new DC pension scheme (March) •  The Parliament refers the PFRDA Bill, 2005 to the Standing Committee on Finance (March) •  Government of Madhya Pradesh issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme from 01 January 2005 (April) •  The Government appoints D. Swarup as chairman of PFRDA for a period of 5 years (April) •  D. Swarup, chairman PFRDA releases the Indian Retirement and Earnings Survey (2004) database into the    public domain (April) •  The final report of the ADB TA on pension reforms for the unorganised sector is submitted to the DEA (July    2005) •  The Report of the Standing Committee on Finance on the PFRDA Bill, 2005 is tabled in the Parliament at the    start of the Monsoon Session (July) •  Government of Goa issues a Notification bringing its new employees under a new DC pension scheme    with effect from 01 January 2004 (August) •  PFRDA posts draft Regulations on the web for public comments (September) •  Seventh IIEF pension policy conference for stakeholder and state finance secretaries jointly hosted with    DEA, PFRDA and ADB (September) •  IIEF circulates the draft policy document on POPs for public comments (September) •  Government of Uttaranchal announces its decision to bring its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme (September) •  Government of Orissa announces its decision to bring its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme (September) •  Government of Maharashtra announces its decision to bring its new employees under a new DC pension    scheme (October)
2006
•  P. Chidambaram, Union finance minister of India launches the UTI-SEWA micro-pension scheme designed by    IIEF with 25,000 women members of Sewa Bank in Ahmedabad (April) •  The CAG conducts a seminar for State Governments on pension reforms and NPS (April) •  NCEUS submits its Report on Social Security for Unorganised Workers (May) •  Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation issues an RFP to select professional fund managers for the PF and    pension corpus (July) •  Nitish Kumar, chief minister and Sushil Modi, deputy CM launch the UTI AMC micro-pension scheme for    40,000 milk farmers of COMPFED, Bihar (September) •  Invest India Micro Pension Services (IIMPS) established as a joint venture with SEWA for delivering social    security benefits to low income workers (September)
2007
•  Prime Minister of India convenes a meeting of all State Chief Ministers on India's Pension Reform (January) •  PFRDA invites EOIs from PSU entities for functioning as CRA under NPS (January) •  P. Chidambaram, Union finance minister of India launches the UTI AMC micro-pension scheme with    SHEPHERD at Trichy for 5000 low income self-employed women members (February) •  PFRDA invites EOIs for appointment of PFMs for the NPS (May) •  Cabinet decides to introduce The Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Bill, 2007 during the Monsoon    Session of the Parliament in July 2007 (May) •  Government of Rajasthan announces India's first co-contributory pension scheme for unorganised sector    workers with an annual co-contribution of Rs.1000 per worker (July) •  IIMS Dataworks releases the Invest India Incomes and Savings Survey (2007) with new time-series data    on India's pension demand and coverage gap through a listing sample of one million households and indepth    interviews with 100,000 earners across urban and rural India and across all States (July) •  PFRDA selects UTI AMC, State Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to sponsor new     pension fund management companies for the NPS (July) •  Ministry of Finance issues draft revised pattern of investment to be followed by non-Government PFs,    superannuation funds and gratuity funds (September) •  PFRDA appoints National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) to establish the Central Recordkeeping    Agency (CRA) for the NPS (November) •  PFRDA joins the International Organization of Pension Supervisors (IOPS) (November) •  Prime Minister of India launches the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) to provide     central assistance of Rs.200 per head for all persons below poverty line and aged 65 and above. This was    expected to increase coverage of the old age pension from 8.7 million to 16 million elderly.
2008
•  Ministry of Finance hosts a workshop on capacity building for pension reforms for state governments    (January) •  Government of Rajasthan appoints IIEF/IIMPS as its consultant and turnkey implementation agency for the    Vishwakarma unorganised sector co-contributory pension scheme (January) •  UTI AMC launches its micro-pension scheme with SEWA at Indore for low income self-employed women    members (January) •  PFRDA and NSDL host a meeting on the the CRA architecture with State Governments and central    government departments (February) •  Government of Madhya Pradesh announces a new means-tested co-contributory pension scheme for    unorganised sector workers with an annual co-contribution of Rs.1000 per worker (February) •  ADB commissions a technical assistance project on implementing pension reforms for the    unorganised sector in India (March) •  GOI transfers Rs.1177 crore (US$300 million) of NPS contributions by central government employees to the    three pension fund managers appointed by PFRDA (April) •  High Level Committee on Financial Sector Reforms headed by Dr. Raghuram Rajan and commissioned by the    Planning Commission, Government of India submits its draft report which highlights the need for    broad-based access to pension products (April) •  The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) issues an EOI for appointment of professional fund    managers for its flagship scheme with a corpus of more than Rs.1.56 trillion (US$39 billion) (April) •  IIEF hosts its 8th annual pension policy and business conference and a regional pension reform round-table    with the Ministry of Finance and PFRDA (April) •  D. Swarup, chairman of PFRDA releases the IIMS Dataworks research report titled "The Sleeping Giant:    Private Pension Markets in India" which estimates India's private pension market at Rs.12 trillion (US$300     billion) by 2019-20 (April)

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