Over the last eight years, IIEF has been at the forefront of the pension reforms debate in India and has played a proactive and key role in this area. Our work in the areas of pension policy analysis, technical and consulting assistance on pension policy formulation and research in the recent past are outlined below.

Project OASIS (1998-2000)
The OASIS (Old Age Social & Income Security) Project was the first comprehensive study of India 's pension sector and was commissioned to IIEF by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE). Under this Project, the MoSJE and IIEF set up a Expert Committee headed by Dr. S.A. Dave. This Committee included Joint Secretaries from the Ministries of Finance, Labor and Social Justice and Empowerment. IIEF served as the Member-Secretary of the Project OASIS Expert Committee and as the Convenor and Coordinator of the Project on behalf of the MoSJE.

As as input to Project OASIS, IIEF commissioned 14 studies to leading domestic and international experts on issues linked to old age income security including demographics, investment of pension assets, regulation of pension funds, international experience with pension reforms, existing pension provisions for formal sector workers in India , annuities and benefits, civil service pensions, etc. Over the duration of this Project, IIEF hosted over 40 workshops and technical consultations with domestic and overseas experts and relevant Government officials. IIEF participated in an Indian Government delegation to Sweden and USA on pension reforms and invited international experts to contribute to the policy analysis and policy formulation process. These interactions and technical consultations played a proactive role in building awareness and a policy consensus on pension reforms in India .

The OASIS Project resulted in two policy proposals. The first Repor submitted to India 's Finance Minister by MoSJE and IIEF in January 1999, examined the shortcomings of existing pension provisions in India and proposed important changes and improvements to these schemes. These included the EPF and EPS managed by the Ministry of Labor, the PPF managed by the Ministry of Finance, the unfunded pension provisions for central and state government employees and the old-age and social assistance programs for current destitute old. IIEF submitted the second and final Project OASIS Report to the MoSJE and thereafter jointly to India 's Prime Minister on 14 January 2000 . This Project OASIS Report recommended the establishment of a new pension system for India 's 300 million informal sector workers who are excluded from formal pension provisions. This pension system would be based on individual retirement accounts created by individual members, central recordkeeping and administration for lower costs and portability, and asset management by competing professional pension fund managers. The system would offer three simple, standard schemes and nationwide access through the postal and banking network. This Report has served as the basis for India 's pension reform and has provided a useful policy direction for improving retirement outcomes for India 's vast workforce.

Rethinking Pension Provision for India (2002)
In 2002, The World Bank commissioned IIEF to produce a series of policy and technical papers on pension reform and system implementation. IIEF commissioned leading domestic and international experts in the relevant areas to produce papers on investment of retirement savings, investment risks and the role for guarantees, regulation of private pension funds, administration and recordkeeping, costs and charges, benefits and annuities. Each of these papers addressed the core principles of pension system design and the key policy issues in operationalising a DC pension system with individual accounts. IIEF edited these papers and produced them as a book titled 'Rethinking Pension Provision for India 2003' with Tata McGraw-Hill which was released by the Union Labor Minister

Consultant to Ministry of Finance on Pension Reforms (2004-05).
During 2004-05, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance appointed IIEF as its consultant for pension reforms and NPS implementation. This consulting assignment was funded through The World Bank's IDF Grant. During this period, IIEF provided dedicated research and technical assistance to the DEA in drafting policies related to the legislative, policy, regulatory and institutional architecture of the New Pension System (NPS) and relevant system implementation issues. IIEF assisted the DEA and the Interim PFRDA in drafting the consultative papers related to the process engineering of the NPS, as well as operations, eligibility criteria and selection of the CRA, PFMs and POPs. These papers were circulated for public comments, and reviewed by the DEA during this period. IIEF also developed a software tool for administering web-based surveys on members, P&AOs and non-civil departments covered by the NPS. This survey tool was meant to assist the DEA, CGA and other Departments in analyzing member understanding of NPS rules and benefits, as well as for capturing information on compliance related to issuance of unique IDs, deduction and transfer of monthly NPS contributions and information to the CPAO. IIEF also undertook an analysis of regulatory structures for private pensions in other countries, submitted a design for the PFRDA organizational structure and staff responsibilities, established and managed an online helpdesk for the NPS, provided technical support in drafting the PFRDA legislation, and undertook periodic assessments and reviews of the interim administrative arrangement for new civil servants covered by the NPS and identified informational, transactional and coverage gaps in these arrangements.

ADB TA on Pension Reforms for the Unorganised Sector (2004-05)
Once the PFRDA Bill is passed by the Indian Parliament, it will enable the government to offer the NPS under a well regulated umbrella, to the remaining working population which is not already covered by any legislated pension or PF scheme, on a voluntary basis. In this regard, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided technical assistance of US$1 million to the Indian Government during 2004-05 for designing policies for pension reforms for the informal sector workforce. IIEF, in collaboration with the University of New South Wales, was appointed by the ADB to provide this technical assistance to the Department of Economic Affairs. Under this 12-month project, IIEF designed and commissioned a survey (Indian Retirement Earnings and Savings survey 2004) on a stratified random sample of 40,862 earners across 28 Indian States in November 2004. The IRES data was analysed by IIEF's team of researchers and a team of international and domestic experts engaged by IIEF and UNSW to produce a set of policy recommendations for extending the NPS to the over 300 million unorganised sector workers. The TA recommendations were submitted to the DEA in June 2005 and included public policy options and imperatives for achieving a broad-based coverage of voluntary pensions in India. The (six) TA reports included recommendations related to regulations, PFRDA organisation and management structure, as well as market expansion and coverage, products, access and distribution. This ADB TA provided a powerful demonstration of an evidence-led approach to public policy formulation.

Community, knowledge and consensus building on India's Pension Reform
Over the last eight years, IIEF has undertaken a number of initiatives and produced a steady stream of public goods to assist the process of pension reforms and to build capacity, knowledge and a policy consensus. In this context, IIEF hosts an annual pension policy and business conference to provide an objective platform to the domestic and global pensions policy, regulatory, service, research and media community to exchange ideas and views related to India's pension reform. The seventh IIEF pension policy conference was jointly supported by the DEA and PFRDA and was attended by finance secretaries of several states. IIEF has conducted nearly 100 workshops and technical consultations on India's pension reform. From early 2004, IIEF initiated its Thursday Seminars which are aimed at improving the knowledge and understanding of relevant persons from policy, industry and research and at fostering a pensions community in the country. Representatives of the DEA, MOL, PFRDA, EPFO, multilateral agencies including ILO, World Bank, USAID, and
ADB, as well as senior executives from private financial firms regularly participate in these seminars.

IIEF has also commissioned a series of research and technical papers on pension reforms and implementation issues. These papers are aimed at building knowledge and understanding regarding pension system design and reform issues. In addition to commissioned research, IIEF has also produces an ongoing series of white papers aimed at improving public understanding of various aspects of India's pension sector. IIEF has produced the Pension Policy and Business Simulation Toolkits to assist NPS members, policymakers, PFRDA and service providers in analysing the impact of a variety of variables (contributions, portfolio choice, service charges, inflation, wage growth, etc.) on terminal accumulations in a defined contribution pension system with individual accounts. These toolkits will provide the government and regulators with important policy inputs on costs, fees and charges and also provide potential service providers (CRA, PFMs and POPs) with information on the potential size of the pensions market, the potential number of customers, size of assets and other essential business information regarding the New Pension System (NPS). IIEF has also produced an online pensions encyclopedia on India's pension sector, set up an online 'NPS Help-desk' and a facility to capture and warehouse media reports related to India's pension reform. IIEF also provides a free daily media update service where links to news and editorials related to India's pension reform are emailed to a group of over 500 persons in India and abroad. IIEF has also contributed several articles and editorials in leading papers.