NRIs can also invest in National Pension Scheme

New Delhi, July 22

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Non-resident Indians (NRIs) can invest in National Pension System (NPS) to get a social security cover, pension regulator PFRDA's Chairman Hemant Contractor said on Wednesday.

"There was some ambiguity about whether to add NPS as eligible investment by NRI. So, we took up the matter with RBI and very recently they have given this clarification that NPS like insurance and mutual fund could also be eligible investment for NRIs. The government will come out with a clarification to that effect in the FEMA guidelines shortly," he said.

The scheme will especially benefit Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) who do not have any mandatory social security benefit, such as those living in the Middle East.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) are currently in talks with lenders such as SBI, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank and several other banks based in south India to help tap the NRI market.

"We have started talking to bankers about attracting NRIs to enroll for NPS scheme. We see NRIs as very attractive market for NPS. We would like to push for NPS for the NRIs," he said.

The move will also help to increase the subscriber base and expand the pension corpus in the private sector.

The current corpus under the National Pension System is Rs 91,000 crore. — PTI