Promises by the State about payment of pension in the future are much like debt. For the purpose of fiscal planning, and analysis of pension reforms, it is important to compute the "implicit pension debt" (IPD) of the

country. India's IPD comes about through workers and pensioners of centre, states and defence forces, and the funding gap of the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS). This paper offers estimates of the IPD owing to two components: central employees and state employees. The IPD associated with these two, as of late 2004, works out to Rs.1,735,527 crore or 55.8% of GDP. This is a substantial number when compared with the explicit internal public debt of the government of India at 84.86% of GDP (2004 - 2005).

Prof. Asher focused on key tasks during the initial phase of the PFRDA. In doing so he laid down the demographic challenges that will come India's way in the years to come. He provided insights from international experience in pension reform and urged the PFRDA to also think of policies regarding the payout phase as well.

Renuka Sane presented a summary of the new World Bank report on pensions. The World Bank report primarily talks about the extension of the three pillar model to five pillars. It also talks about the current thinking that funding of pension systems may not always be the right path for countries to follow.

Mr. Garg focused on the current status of the state governments pension liabilities and the benefits which state governments employees are receiving. He also discussed the unknown financial burden and its consequences in the future due to pension liability.

Dr. Narayan started his talk by describing the difference between MFIs and SHGs and the existing profile of these institutes toady. He highlighted the issues of groups that have matured are are not looking at scaling their operations by way of self articulation, opportunity to scale the next level of activity and management of immediate issues such as education, health and water. He focused on the question of how to make a group that spans more than one village. He also described the stress lines that might develop between the Government and the NGOs once the Budget '05 proposals regarding regulating microfinance are implemented. He concluded by saying that microfinance in its present state is successful as a financing initiative but fails as a development initative.

Jaiwardhan discussed lifecycle fund as an investment option for the New Pension System. He discussed the need for the lifecycle funding approach in the present scenario and also talked about some of the the pension systems which have lifecycle fund as an investment option. He also analyzed the comparison between three options provided in the OASIS report for the investment in the NPS and the lifecycle funding approach.

Dr. Thomas described the issues involved in fund management with a special emphasis on cost issues. She described the examples of Barclays and Vanguard in providing examples of implementing passive fund management to reduce costs. She also discussed guidelines for governance of pension funds.

Robert Palacios provided an outline of the global experience with civil service pension reforms with a specific focus on countries in South Asia.

Philip Hsin discussed BGIs experience in the US and Asia and relevant lessons for India on issues of product design, investment strategies, distribution models, as well as on behavior and education of plan participants in the context of DC pension systems. He also outlined BGIs experience with costs and charges in managing the US Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). And finally, Mr. Hsin discussed the rationale and structure of Life-cycle Funds and the applications for these plans in the international and Indian context.

Dr. Shah discussed the role for guarantees in the context of a DC pension system. He outlined some strategies, policy alternatives and constraints in producing guarantees for long-term savings products including DC pensions. He also discussed some relevant policy issues in pensions and finance which are related to the problem of guarantees.

Mr. Viswanathan presented a detailed outline of the objectives, administrative processes, funding, benefits, targeted coverage and status of the new Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Scheme (USWSSS) recently launched as a pilot in 50 districts by the Ministry of Labour.

Mr. Sahai described the existing legislative and regulatory framework of India's pension sector with a focus on Central and State Government pensions; EPF, EPS and other plans (including exempt funds) managed by the EPFO; Voluntary superannuation and gratuity plans offered by employers; and Pension and social assistance plans available to informal sector workers. He also outlined the emerging regulatory approaches in the financial, power and telecom sectors and the lessons therefrom for the regulatory and legislative approach to pensions in India .

Mr. Kaul critiqued the asset allocation and investment guidelines proposed under the NPS. He also outlined some key issues regarding active vs. passive management of pension savings, performance evaluation and benchmarking of performance.

Mr. Modi focused on the core issues in developing a tax policy for the new pension scheme and the role of taxation in increase voluntary coverage of a DC pension system. He also highlighted the impact and conflicts in the taxation policies for existing finance including long term savings products.

Prof. Asher examined the recent central government pension reform in the context of its economic, fiscal and labour market implications. He also described the key factors that will determine the success of this pension reform process and suggested some future directions for a more broad-based approach to pension reform for India .

Mr. Akers presented a report at the CMIB of London about the improvements in annuitant mortality in the UK . He discussed the implications of mortality improvement for the Indian annuity market.

Prof. Gangopadhyay discussed the issues in risk management for the small farmers. He also outlined problems with existing insurance mechanisms and proposed an innovative model for dealing with risks of the small farmers.

Mr. Sinha outlined the new initiatives of the government with respect to the new civil service pension reform. He also discussed the policy outlook and strategies for extending coverage of this scheme to the informal sector workforce