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9th Annual IIEF Pension Policy Conference, 09 November, 2009
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IIEF's 2009 pension policy and business
conference
was
hosted against the
backdrop of a variety of ongoing policy,
regulatory and business initiatives aimed at
bridging India's pension coverage gap. These
include (a) the PFRDA's efforts at achieving
mandatory NPS coverage among new central and
state governments employees and at
attracting mass-scale voluntary coverage of
the NPS among informal sector workers, (b) a
comprehensive review of the legislative,
regulatory and administrative environment
under which various employee benefit
programs (superannuation plans, exempt and
excluded pension provident fund trusts,
gratuity, and legislated non-government
pension and provident funds) presently
operate in order to strengthen the
governance of such programs, (c) new
legislation (UWSS Act, 2008) aimed at
delivering an old age savings mechanism to
the lifetime poor, (d) development of a new
“micro-pension” model by IIMPS in
partnership with UTI and SEWA to enable the
working poor to save for their old age, (e)
introduction of co-contributions based
retirement savings schemes targeting low
income informal sector workers by the
Governments of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh,
(f) a new broad-based eligibility criteria
for the national old age pension scheme
targeting the current destitute old, and (h)
launch of reverse mortgage products aimed at
converting home ownership into a old age
annuity for workers already nearing
retirement. |
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Key stakeholders of India's pension sector
discussed the status and outlook on existing efforts,
as well as the likely impact of the new draft Tax
Code, the UID project and the proposed sales
incentive model on the retirement savings behavior
and outcomes for India's large workforce. A key
focus of the conference was to evolve a consensus
view on an equitable and inclusive policy,
regulatory and business response to bridging India's
pension coverage gap. New ideas on improving
retirement incomes of formal sector workers were
debated upon. The participants also discussed
strategies for delivering above poverty replacement
incomes to low income workers, the lifetime poor and
those nearing retirement. |
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