LIC outperforms other pension funds; gets higher allocation

The Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) has increased the allocation from the government's pension fund to state-owned life insurer LIC's pension fund subsidiary, LIC Pension Fund (LICPF), in 2010-11 while trimming the allocation to State Bank of India (SBI) Pension Fund.

LIC Pension Fund received the highest allocation among the three fund managers, which include SBI Pension Fund and UTI Retirement Solutions, based on its performance.

LICPF emerged the best performer among fund managers who manage retirement funds of government employees under the new pension scheme - LICPF generated returns of 10.19 per cent, higher than the returns generated by the other two fund managers. 

LIC Pension Fund managing director H Sadhak told a newspaper that the subsidiary of state-owned Life Insurance Corporation has been allocated 35 per cent of the retirement funds of central government employees.

LIC Pension Fund has gained six per cent in the fresh allocation, while UTI Retirement Benefit Pension Fund saw a one per cent increase in allocation, and SBI Pension Fund's share has fallen from 40 per cent to 33 per cent.

Speaking to another newspaper, PFRDA's newly-appointed chairman Yogesh Agarwal said, ''The funds are allocated based on their returns. There is not much difference between the three fund managers, so there is marginal variation in terms of allocation.''