National Pension System

PFRDA:

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority is established under the PFRDA Act which was passed on 19.09.2013 in the parliament and notified on 01.02.2014. PFRDA is regulating the National Pension scheme.

NPS:

Contributory Pension Scheme notified by the central government on 22.12.2003 was renamed as National Pension System w.e.f 01.01.2004 for all the central government employees except the employees of the armed forces. Subsequently the same scheme was extended to all the citizens of india w.e.f 01.05.2009. This scheme abolishes the old pension system being managed by the Provident fund under the accountant general of india. After passing of the PFRDA Act, NPS got the legal status with retrospective effect from 01.04.2004.

CPS:

Contibutory Pension scheme is being continued by the state government to have control over the subscription of the state government employees. The money collected under the scheme is supposed to be transferred to the NPS account opened on behalf of the employee as prescribed by the PFRDA norms.

Central Record Keeping Agency:

• NSDL(National Securities Depository Ltd) is supposed to be the Central Record Keeping Agency, which will maintain the accounts of the NPS and give IT back end support.
• M/s Karvy Computershare Private Limited is recently been authorised to act as a Central Record Keeping Agency.

Pension Fund Managers:

Pension Fund Managers were appointed for managing funds collected under the scheme. They are authorized to invest the money in the capital market as per the option selected by the contributors.

At present there are 7 pension fund managers approved by the PFRDA, one of which can be selected by the contributor of his choice.

1.    LIC Pension Plan

2.    SBI Pension Plan

3.      UTI Retirement Solutions

4.    ICICI Prudential Pension

5.    IDFC Pension

6.    Kotak Mahindra Pension

7.      Reliance Capital Pension

The first three fund managers are approved to manage the government employees contribution. The non-government employees or individual citizen can select any of the seven fund managers of his choice.

Investment Options:

The investment can be done on two basis

1.      Auto Choice (Aggressive, Moderate, Conservative)

2.      Active Choice

·      Auto choice option will be as per the age of the subscriber. The percentage of allocation will be between Equity (E), Corporate Debt (C), Government Securities (G) will change as per the age and the option exercised.

·         Active choice can given by the subscriber, but no case the equity allocation can be more than 50%.

At the age of retirement(60years), a certain percentage (40%) will be used to purchase a annuity scheme from which regular monthly pension amount will be given till the specified years as choosen by the individual. The remaining corpus can be withdrawn in bulk.

Tax Status:

The investment can be exempted from the tax as per the Income Tax Act 1961:

80 CCD(1a): Contribution to the NPS Scheme or equivalent scheme or 10% of the Basic Salary+DA whichever is less subject to the limit of Section 80 C

80CCD(1b): Voluntary Contribution to the NPS (Tier I) Account which is over and above section 80 C limit subject to the maximum of Rs.50000.

80CCD (2): The equivalent contribution by the employer into the salaried employees account subject to the 10% of the salary.

eNPS:

Any individual can open a NPS account electronically without any paperwork using Aadhar based authentication. The procedure is very simple which is explained in the picture.

Source: 
http://www.pfrda.org.in
https://npscra.nsdl.co.in
https://enps.nsdl.com/eNPS/NationalPensionSystem.html

How to Apply for a PAN....?

PAN...Permanent Account Number is a number given to the individual, organization, companies, etc., in India by the Department of Income Tax who pay tax, who do financial transactions, or in short who do business in India...

Since it is mandatory to quote this number to avail many of financial work done, it is important to know how to obtain this PAN.

Though many of us already have valid PAN or there are many agents who help to obtain this PAN, nobody bother to know how to apply for PAN.

It is very simple and can be done at comfort of sitting in home through online. Only thing we should be aware of some simple tactics while applying.

There is two agencies through which PAN can be applied UTI and NSDL..through Form 49A. Through the same agencies correction in the PAN data base like correction in the spelling, change of name, change of address, change in signature can be done. Duplicate card can also be obtained.

It is well clear and understandable in the online website itself. But there are few points to note to avaoid rejection of new PAN application or correction application.

1. Make sure to enter the first name, middle name, sur name (IT department expects the supporting document also should have the name in the same format)

2. Father's name should not contain any initials. Meaning you have to expand your father's initial. SO take extra care while entering your grand father's name. (The supporting document also should contain your father's initial expanded)

3. While sending the document make sure to give a good photograph so that it will be clear on the printed card.

4. Sign the application clearly and legibly, so that it appears good on the card. This will prevent confusion while submitting for proof.

5. Enter your address clearly, as most of the banks, mutual fund companies, share trading agencies pull the address from the PAN database automatically even if you different address in those places. (Thanks to KYC process)(Make sure the supporting document also has the same address with spelling)

6. Enter your Aadhar correctly in the Application and it is better to submit the aadhar as address proof. There is high chance that it will be accepted. (If there is any change in address, first make changes in Aadhar and then apply for PAN. Making changes in Aadhar is very easy)

7. There is high probability that those who don't have Aadhar and passport, the other documents like driving licence, voter's id, ration card will not have the initials expanded and the father's name will not have grand father's name. SO it is better to utilise the option of getting a certificate from a Group A or Group B gazetted officer a certificate mentioning the correct name, address as a certificate of identity and address in the form Annexure A . This option will surely prevent the application from rejection.

8. Be sure not to give any false information in the PAN application. It's a double edged sword. Some or the other day it will make us to land in trouble.

9. If nothing is possible, you can always approach the authorised agents of UTI or NSDL (not the people who are sitting in browsing centres)

10. A single spelling mistake in PAN will create problem in getting back your hard earned investment money in future. Be careful...be a responsible citizen...Pay Tax properly.