PFRDA seeks parity with EPFO on tax exemption given on corporates' contributions

Pension fund regulator PFRDA has sought "parity" with Employees' Provident Fund Office (EPFO) on the taxation front for contributions by employers, a top official said on Thursday. At present, there is a disparity in the employers' contributions in building corpuses for the employees, wherein contributions up to 10 per cent of basic salary and dearness allowances by a corporate are exempt from tax for NPS contributions while the same is 12 per cent in the case of EPFO.

"We have made a request to make it 12 per cent, to at least bring parity (with EPFO)," Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman Deepak Mohanty told reporters here when asked about his budget expectations.

He said the PFRDA aspires to ideally take it up to 14 per cent, at par with the exemption given for the central government's contributions for its employees but for the time being, would seek a parity with EPFO.

A PFRDA official also said the new tax regime, which does not have any provision for any deduction, has already impacted the pension funds as the favourable tax treatment vanishes.

At present, Mohanty said the PFRDA is trailing on achieving its subscriber addition target for FY24, pointing out that in the first nine months of the fiscal year, it has been able to add only 5.83 lakh new subscribers on the corporate side as against the aim of adding 13 lakh new subscribers.

Mohanty admitted that more efforts need to be undertaken on the awareness front, stating that the subscriber additions are still lacking.

He said the PFRDA has been using social media and TV to spread its messages.

However, he said the PFRDA feels the target is "achievable" because generally, it sees a higher rate of additions in the last quarter as individuals look at avenues of saving on tax and investments.

On the Assets Under Management (AUM) front, Mohanty said the picture is far better because of the exuberant markets, with the overall AUM at over Rs 11 lakh crore as against the target of Rs 12 lakh crore.

At present, 17 per cent of the AUMs are invested in the equity markets while 32 per cent are in corporate bonds. The rest are in government bonds, he said.

On the corporate bonds front, 97-98 per cent of the money has been deployed in papers issued by companies-rated AAA while there are a few cases where deployments have also been done in the lower rated AA papers, he said.

In order to increase flows, the PFRDA has also allowed for a QR code-based payment, wherein the payment into a NPS account will be as simple as paying a merchant.

Lately, there has been a higher proclivity to open accounts from points of presence and the online account opening seems to be tapering down after the initial burst, the PFRDA official quoted earlier said.

Mohanty said there is no move to increase the commissions for the intermediaries as the authority feels it is sufficient.

When asked about Maharashtra's move on making sure the alternative of old pension scheme is available for its employees, Mohanty declined to comment.