Mukherjee unveils LIC pension scheme Swalamban Yojana for workers
27 Sep 2010
Union finance minister, Pranab Mukherjhee, yesterday presented to the country a pension scheme for the unorganised sector at Raghunathganj under the Jangipur sub division of Murshidabad district and distributed PRAN cards to a few beneficiaries. Swalamban Yojana is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority with LIC as the facilitator.
The scheme which targets at the unorganised sector will cover subscribers from age 60. Subscribers from unorganised sector between ages 18 and 55 years will be eligible under the scheme which provides for minimum monthly contribution of Rs100, minimum annual contribution of Rs1,000 and maximum annual contribution of Rs12,000 per member. Under the scheme government contribution will be Rs100 per annum for financial year 2010-11 and the scheme shall be available for another three years.
At the presentation function Sri Namo Narain Meena, minister for state, R Goapalan secretary financial services government of India, Yogesh Agarwal chairman PFRDA, T S Vijayan chairman LIC, Thomas Mathew T managing director LIC, Sunita Sharma executive director LIC and RR Dash zonal manager, LIC Eastern Zone were also present.
In an interaction with a media organisation at the same function, Mukherjee said that the Reserve Bank of India may soon allow micro-finance institutions (MFIs) to set up banks/
''RBI has framed a set of guidelines for setting up new banks. Following my announcement in the Budget, the apex bank is now planning to allow new entities to set up banks and has recently floated a discussion paper. Interested parties and stakeholders have submitted their suggestions to RBI. The central bank will now finalise its view on the issue and soon allow new entities to take up banking activities,'' Mukherjee to The Economic Times.
Meanwhile with the New Pension Scheme (NPS) still getting lukewarm response from investors, the PFRDA is mulling introducing sweeping changes to boost the scheme's its appeal.