Pension Fund Mulls Allowing Minors To Join National Pension Scheme

New Delhi: Pension fund regulator PFRDA is looking at feasibility to allow minors open an account under the National Pension System (NPS) and will go through the legal aspects associated with the matter, its chairman Hemant Contractor has said. "We are looking at the possibility of allowing minors to join NPS because in some countries it is allowed. So we are looking at that issue," Contractor told Press Trust of India.

He said there are legal issues as far as allowing minors to open such an account is concerned and the PFRDA is looking at ways to sort it out.

"There are legal issues like a minor's capacity to enter a contract. Under the law, minors cannot enter into a contract. Another issue is like whether they can discharge their responsibilities under the contract. So we are trying to find out how to get around those issues," he said. When asked about the time-frame to bring any clarity on the issue, he said there will be a discussion internally then only the PFRDA will approach the finance ministry on the matter.

"We are looking at it very closely, may be in 2-3 weeks something concrete may come up," Contractor said further. The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) runs the National Pension Scheme and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) under its fold. The NPS is for the government as well as the private sector employees, while the APY mainly caters to those in the unorganised sector.

The overall subscriber base of the pension regulator was 1.81 crore as on October 31 this year. There were 1.54 crore subscribers at the end of the fiscal ended March 2017.
 
 

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