In the past one year, equity investment in National Pension System (Tier-1) account has given a whopping return which is in the range of 33-39 percent.
As we know, there are 10 pension fund managers of NPS and their return varies from one to another. The maximum return of 39.74 percent was given by Tata-Pension Fund.
This was followed by ICICI-PF which delivered 38.93 percent and UTIRSL that gave 36.89 percent per annum.
Other pension fund managers with higher than 35 percent annual return on equity investments are Birla PF (35.06%), Kotak-PF (35.02%) and Max-Life (35.95%).
Returns delivered by other pension funds can be checked in the table below.
| Pension fund manager (PFM) | 1-year-return (%) |
| Tata-PF | 39.74 |
| ICICI-PF | 38.93 |
| UTI-RSL | 36.89 |
| Birla-PF | 35.06 |
| Kotak-PF | 35.02 |
| Max Life | 35.95 |
| Axis | 34.06 |
| HDFC-PF | 33.93 |
| LIC PF | 33.94 |
| SBI-PF | 34.06 |
(Source: npstrust.org.in/, returns as on March 22, 2024)
Stable investment
The National Pension System (NPS) typically invests in the large cap stocks and not in the mid and small caps. So, the investments are essentially safer and are not subject to extreme volatility as seen in the mid and small caps.
Besides pension fund managers, subscribers can also determine the allocation of assets in their portfolio in the active choice wherein they can determine the proportion of assets across asset classes which include equity, government securities, corporate debt and alternative investment fund (AIF).
Auto choice
Alternatively, one can also opt for the auto choice option wherein allocation is made in a predetermined ratio based on the subscriber’s age and risk appetite. There are three options in auto choice: conservative, moderate and aggressive.
ALSO READ: Why should NPS be part of your retirement portfolio?
In conservative choice, allocation to equity can be up to 25 percent, in moderate choice, the maximum threshold is 50 percent and in the aggressive choice, the upper limit is 75 percent.
Withdrawals
One of the key distinctions between investment in NPS and other equity investments is that the withdrawals from NPS are severely restricted unlike other investment instruments.
However, after being an NPS subscriber for a minimum of three years, investors are entitled to withdraw up to 25 percent of their contribution for a number of emergency situations such as illness, education or marriage of children, construction of house, among other emergencies.
Notably, PFRDA last month released a master circular to revise the rules relating to partial withdrawal from the NPS fund.
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Published: 25 Mar 2024, 09:19 AM IST