· What is NPS? Consider your pension account in NPS i.e. PRAN-Permanent Retirement Account Number, as a sapling, which is planted when you, as a Government employee join NPS. It is watered (with your half of NPS contribution i.e. 10% of Basic Pay + DA), manured (with Government’s matching half of contribution) and exposed to sunlight (invested in pension funds for growth); over a period, it grows into a giant flourishing tree (your NPS corpus). At your retirement, this tree along with the fruit it bears, is yours to benefit from. · Where is your money invested? As per conscious decision of the Government of India towards mitigating the risk, bulk of the funds of the Government subscribers are invested in Government securities & Debt instruments (comparatively safe investments) and the exposure to Equity is also made to maximize returns. This is done with a view to balance your returns with the risk. The CAGR of the SG Scheme as on March 31 st 2014 is 8.6% (since inception) and this return is calculated based on scheme NAVs and the securities held under the scheme portfolio valued on marked-to market (MTM) basis. · Who manages your investments? Your contributions are allocated to three Public Sector Pension Funds, viz. SBI Pension Funds Private Limited, UTI Retirement Solutions Limited and LIC Pension Fund Limited. The functioning of these PFs are overseen both by the PFRDA and by the NPS Trust. · What are your points of interaction with the System? You, as subscriber, can interact with the System at/through two levels- at the Government Nodal office level and through the CRA- Central Recordkeeping Agency- the intermediary entrusted with the record keeping of the data of individual subscribers. By Nodal office we mean the office with which your PRAN is linked and who, on your behalf interacts with the System. · What are your rights as a subscriber? It is your right and consequently your Nodal office’s responsibility that your NPS contributions are remitted to the system for investment - in full and in a timely manner.
