Securities and Exchange Board of India The Securities and Exchange Board of India(frequently abbreviated SEBI) is the regulator

for the securities market in India. It was established on 12 April 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992.

History

It was officially established by The Government of India in the year of 1992 with SEBI Act 1992 being passed by the Indian Parliament. SEBI is having it's Headquarter at the business district of Bandra - Kurla Complex in Mumbai, and has Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western Regional Offices in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Ahmedabad respectively.

Controller of Capital Issues was the regulatory authority before SEBI came into existence; it derived authority from the Capital Issues (Control) Act, 1947.

Initially SEBI was a non statutory body without any statutory power. However in the year of 1995, the SEBI was given additional statutory power by the Government of India through an amendment to the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act 1992. In April, 1998 the SEBI was constituted as the regulator of capital markets in India under a resolution of the Government of India.

The SEBI is managed by its members, which consists of following: a) The chairman who is nominated by Union Government of India. b) Two members, i.e. Officers from Union Finance Ministry. c) One member from The Reserve Bank of India. d) The remaining 5 members are nominated by Union Government of India, out of them at least 3 shall be whole-time members.

The office of SEBI is situated at SEBI Bhavan, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra East, Mumbai400051, with its regional offices at Kolkata, Delhi,Chennai & Ahmadabad. It has recently opened local offices at Jaipur and Bangalore and is planning to open offices at Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Patna, Kochi and Chandigarh in Financial Year 2013 - 2014.

Functions and responsibilities

SEBI has to be responsive to the needs of three groups, which constitute the market:

the issuers of securities the investors the market intermediaries.

SEBI has three functions rolled into one body: quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial and quasiexecutive. It drafts regulations in its legislative capacity, it conducts investigation and enforcement action in its executive function and it passes rulings and orders in its judicial capacity. Though this makes it very powerful, there is an appeal process to create accountability. There is a Securities Appellate Tribunal which is a three-member tribunal and is presently headed by a former Chief Justice of a High court - Mr. Justice NK Sodhi. A second appeal lies directly to the Supreme Court.

Powers For the discharge of its functions efficiently, SEBI has been invested with the necessary powers which are: 1. to approve bylaws of stock exchanges. 2. to require the stock exchange to amend their bylaws. 3. inspect the books of accounts and call for periodical returns from recognized stock exchanges.

4. inspect the books of accounts of a financial intermediaries. 5. compel certain companies to list their shares in one or more stock exchanges. 6. levy fees and other charges on the intermediaries for performing its functions. 7. grant license to any person for the purpose of dealing in certain areas. 8. delegate powers exercisable by it. 9. prosecute and judge directly the violation of certain provisions of the companies Act. 10. power to impose monetry penalties.

Major achievements

SEBI has enjoyed success as a regulator by pushing systemic reforms aggressively and successively. SEBI is credited for quick movement towards making the markets electronic and paperless by introducing T+5 rolling cycle from July 2001 and T+3 in April 2002 and further to T+2 in April 2003. The rolling cycle of T+2[6] means, Settlement is done in 2 days after Trade date. SEBI has been active in setting up the regulations as required under law.

SEBI has also been instrumental in taking quick and effective steps in light of the global meltdown and the Satyam fiasco. In October 2011, it increased the extent and quantity of disclosures to be made by Indian corporate promoters. In light of the global meltdown, it liberalised the takeover code to facilitate investments by removing regulatory structures. In one such move, SEBI has increased the application limit for retail investors to Rs 2 lakh, from Rs 1 lakh at present.

Controversies

Supreme Court of India heard a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by India Rejuvenation Initiative that had challenged the procedure for key appointments adopted by Govt of India.

The petition alleged that, "The constitution of the search-cum-selection committee for recommending the name of chairman and every whole-time members of SEBI for appointment has been altered, which directly impacted its balance and could compromise the role of the SEBI as a watchdog." On 21 November 2011, the court allowed petitioners to withdraw the petition and file a fresh petition pointing out constitutional issues regarding appointments of regulators and their independence.

The Chief Justice of India refused the finance ministrys request to dismiss the PIL and said that the court was well aware of what was going on in SEBI. Hearing a similar petition filed by Bangaluru-based advocate Anil Kumar Agarwal, a two judge Supreme Court bench of Justice SS Nijjar and Justice HL Gokhale issued a notice to the Govt of India, SEBI chief UK Sinha and Omita Paul, Secretary to the President of India.

Further, it came into light that Dr KM Abraham (the then whole time member of SEBI Board) had written to the Prime Minister about malaise in SEBI. He said, "The regulatory institution is under duress and under severe attack from powerful corporate interests operating concertedly to undermine SEBI". He specifically said that Finance Minister's office, and especially his advisor Omita Paul, were trying to influence many cases before SEBI, including those relating to Sahara Group, Reliance, Bank of Rajasthan and MCX.

Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India'scentral banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee. It was established on 1 April 1935 during theBritish Raj in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.The share capital was divided into shares of 100 each fully paid which was entirely owned by private shareholders in the beginning. Following India's independence in 1947, the RBI was nationalised in the year 1949.

The RBI plays an important part in the development strategy of the Government of India. It is a member bank of the Asian Clearing Union. The general superintendence and direction of the RBI is entrusted with the 21-member-strong Central Board of Directors the Governor(currently Duvvuri Subbarao), four Deputy Governors, two Finance Ministryrepresentative, ten Government-nominated Directors to represent important elements from India's economy, and four Directors to represent Local Boards headquartered at Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi. Each of these Local Boards consist of five members who represent regional interests, as well as the interests of co-operative and indigenous banks. The bank is also active in promoting financial inclusion policy and is a leading member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). View the bank on AFI's member map or read RBI financial inclusion-related news.

History 19351950

The old RBI Building in Mumbai

The Reserve Bank of India was founded on 1 April 1935 to respond to economic troubles after the First World War. It came into picture according to the guidelines laid down byDr. Ambedkar. RBI was conceptualized as per the guidelines, working style and outlook presented by Dr Ambedkar in front of the Hilton Young Commission. When this commission came to India under the name of Royal Commission on Indian Currency & Finance, each and every member of this commission were holding Dr Ambedkars book named The Problem of the Rupee Its origin and its solution.

The Bank was set up based on the recommendations of the 1926 Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance, also known as the HiltonYoung Commission. The original choice for the seal of RBI was The East India Company Double Mohur, with the sketch of the Lion and Palm Tree. However it was decided to replace the lion with the tiger, the national animal of India. The Preamble of the RBI describes its basic functions to regulate the issue of bank notes, keep reserves to secure monetary stability in India, and generally to operate the currency and credit system in the best interests of the country.

The Central Office of the RBI was initially established in Calcutta (now Kolkata), but was permanently moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1937. The RBI also acted as Burma's central bank, except during the years of the Japanese occupation of Burma (194245), until April 1947, even though Burma seceded from the Indian Union in 1937. After the Partition of India in 1947, the Bank served as the central bank for Pakistan until June 1948 when the State Bank of Pakistan commenced operations. Though originally set up as a shareholders bank, the RBI has been fully owned by the Government of India since its nationalization in 1949.

19501960

In the 1950s, the Indian government, under its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, developed a centrally planned economic policy that focused on the agricultural sector. The administration nationalized commercial banks and established, based on the Banking Companies Act of 1949 (later called the Banking Regulation Act), a central bank regulation as part of the RBI. Furthermore, the central bank was ordered to support the economic plan with loans.

19601969

As a result of bank crashes, the RBI was requested to establish and monitor a deposit insurance system. It should restore the trust in the national bank system and was initialized on 7 December 1961. The Indian government founded funds to promote the economy and used the slogan Developing Banking. The Government of India restructured the national bank market and nationalized a lot of institutes. As a result, the RBI had to play the central part of control and support of this public banking sector. 19691985

In 1969, the Indira Gandhi-headed government nationalized 14 major commercial banks. Upon Gandhi's return to power in 1980, a further six banks were nationalized. The regulation of the economy and especially the financial sector was reinforced by the Government of India in the 1970s and 1980s. The central bank became the central player and increased its policies for a lot of tasks like interests, reserve ratio and visible deposits. These measures aimed at better economic development and had a huge effect on the company policy of the institutes. The banks lent money in selected sectors, like agri-business and small trade companies.

The branch was forced to establish two new offices in the country for every newly established office in a town. The oil crises in 1973 resulted in increasing inflation, and the RBI restricted monetary policy to reduce the effects.

19851991

A lot of committees analysed the Indian economy between 1985 and 1991. Their results had an effect on the RBI. The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research and the Security & Exchange Board of India investigated the national economy as a whole, and the security and exchange board proposed better methods for more effective markets and the protection of investor interests. The Indian financial market was a leading example for so-called "financial repression" (Mackinnon and Shaw). The Discount and Finance House of India began its operations on the monetary market in April 1988; the National Housing Bank, founded in July 1988, was forced to invest in the property market and a new financial law improved the versatility of direct deposit by more security measures and liberalisation.

19912000 The national economy came down in July 1991 and the Indian rupee was devalued.[16] The currency lost 18% relative to the US dollar, and the Narsimahmam Committee advised restructuring the financial sector by a temporal reduced reserve ratio as well as the statutory

liquidity ratio. New guidelines were published in 1993 to establish a private banking sector. This turning point should reinforce the market and was often called neo-liberal. The central bank deregulated bank interests and some sectors of the financial market like the trust and property markets. This first phase was a success and the central government forced a diversity liberalisation to diversify owner structures in 1998.

The National Stock Exchange of India took the trade on in June 1994 and the RBI allowed nationalized banks in July to interact with the capital market to reinforce their capital base. The central bank founded a subsidiary companythe Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Limitedin February 1995 to produce banknotes.

Since 2000

The Foreign Exchange Management Act from 1999 came into force in June 2000. It should improve the foreign exchange market, international investments in India and transactions. The RBI promoted the development of the financial market in the last years, allowed online banking in 2001 and established a new payment system in 20042005 (National Electronic Fund Transfer). The Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Ltd., a merger of nine institutions, was founded in 2006 and produces banknotes and coins.

The national economy's growth rate came down to 5.8% in the last quarter of 20082009 and the central bank promotes the economic development.

Structure

RBI runs a monetary museum in Mumbai Central Board of Directors

The Central Board of Directors is the main committee of the central bank. The Government of India appoints the directors for a four-year term. The Board consists of a governor, four deputy governors, fifteen directors to represent the regional boards, one from the Ministry of Finance and ten other directors from various fields. The Government nominated Arvind Mayaram, as a director of the Central Board of Directors with effect from August 7, 2012 and vice R Gopalan, RBI said in a statement on August 8, 2012.

Governors

The current Governor of RBI is Duvvuri Subbarao. The RBI extended the period of the present governor up to 2013. There are four deputy governors, Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty, Urjit Patel, Shri Anand Sinha, and Shri H.R. Khan . Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty's term has been extended further by 2 years. Subir Gokarn was replaced by Mr. Urjit Patel in january 2013.

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Supportive bodies The Reserve Bank of India has ten regional representations: North in New Delhi, South in Chennai, East in Kolkata and West in Mumbai. The representations are formed by five members, appointed for four years by the central government and servebeside the advice of the Central Board of Directorsas a forum for regional banks and to deal with delegated tasks from the central board. The institution has 22 regional offices.

The Board of Financial Supervision (BFS), formed in November 1994, serves as a CCBD committee to control the financial institutions. It has four members, appointed for two years, and takes measures to strength the role of statutory auditors in the financial sector, external monitoring and internal controlling systems.

The Tarapore committee was set up by the Reserve Bank of India under the chairmanship of former RBI deputy governor S. S. Tarapore to "lay the road map" to capital account convertibility. The five-member committee recommended a three-year time frame for complete convertibility by 19992000.

On 1 July 2007, in an attempt to enhance the quality of customer service and strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism, the Reserve Bank of India created a new customer service department.

Offices and branches The Reserve Bank of India has 4 zonal offices.[28] It has 19 regional offices at most state capitals and at a few major cities in India. Few of them are located in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal,Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyder abad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata,Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna,

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and Thiruvananthapuram. Besides it has 09 sub-offices atAgartala, Dehradun, Gangtok, Kochi, Panaji, Raipur, Ranchi, Shillong, Shimla and Srinagar. The bank has also two training colleges for its officers, viz. Reserve Bank Staff College at Chennai and College of Agricultural Banking at Pune. There are also four Zonal Training Centres at Mumbai,Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi.

Main functions

Reserve Bank of India regional office, Delhi entrance with the Yakshini sculpture depicting "Prosperity through agriculture".[29]

The RBI Regional Office in Delhi.

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The regional offices of GPO (in white) and RBI (in sandstone) at Dalhousie Square, Kolkata.

Bank of Issue

Under Section 22 of the Reserve Bank of India Act, the Bank has the sole right to issue bank notes of all denominations. The distribution of one rupee notes and coins and small coins all over the country is undertaken by the Reserve Bank as agent of the Government. The Reserve Bank has a separate Issue Department which is entrusted with the issue of currency notes. The assets and liabilities of the Issue Department are kept separate from those of the Banking Department.

Monetary authority

The Reserve Bank of India is the main monetary authority of the country and beside that the central bank acts as the bank of the national and state governments. It formulates, implements and monitors the monetary policy as well as it has to ensure an adequate flow of credit to productive sectors.

Regulator and supervisor of the financial system

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The institution is also the regulator and supervisor of the financial system and prescribes broad parameters of banking operations within which the country's banking and financial system functions.Its objectives are to maintain public confidence in the system, protect depositors' interest and provide cost-effective banking services to the public. The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has been formulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for effective addressing of complaints by bank customers. The RBI controls the monetary supply, monitors economic indicators like the gross domestic product and has to decide the design of the rupee banknotes as well as coins.

Managerial of exchange control

The central bank manages to reach the goals of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. Objective: to facilitate external trade and payment and promote orderly development and maintenance of foreign exchange market in India.

Issuer of currency

The bank issues and exchanges or destroys currency notes and coins that are not fit for circulation. The objectives are giving the public adequate supply of currency of good quality and to provide loans tocommercial banks to maintain or improve the GDP. The basic objectives of RBI are to issue bank notes, to maintain the currency and credit system of the country to utilize it in its best advantage, and to maintain the reserves. RBI maintains the economic structure of the country so that it can achieve the objective of price stability as well as economic development, because both objectives are diverse in themselves.

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Banker of Banks

Nagpur branch holds most of India's gold deposits

RBI also works as a central bank where commercial banks are account holders and can deposit money.RBI maintains banking accounts of all scheduled banks.[31] Commercial banks create credit. It is the duty of the RBI to control the credit through the CRR, bank rate and open market operations. As banker's bank, the RBI facilitates the clearing of cheques between the commercial banks and helps inter-bank transfer of funds. It can grant financial accommodation to schedule banks. It acts as the lender of the last resort by providing emergency advances to the banks. It supervises the functioning of the commercial banks and take action against it if need arises.

Ministry of Finance (India)

The Ministry of Finance is an important ministry within the Government of India. It concerns itself with taxation, financial legislation, financial institutions, capital markets, centre and statefinances, and the Union Budget.

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The following cadre controlling authority of the Civil Services (including Indian Revenue Service, Indian Economic Service, Indian Cost Accounts Service and Indian Civil Accounts Service) are under the administration and supervision of the Finance Ministry. P. Chidambaram is the current Finance Minister following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's brief stint, which in turn came after Pranab Mukherjeeleft the office to be elected the 13th President of India.

History R. K. Shanmukham Chetty was the first Finance Minister of independent India. He presented the first budget of independent India on November 26, 1947.[1]

Organizational Structure

The Union Finance Ministry of India comprises five departments. Department of Economic Affairs The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) is the nodal agency of the Union Government to formulate and monitor country's economic policies and programmes having a bearing on domestic and international aspects of economic management. A principal responsibility of this Department is the preparation of the Union Budget annually (excluding the Railway Budget). Other main functions include:

Formulation and monitoring of macroeconomic policies, including issues relating to fiscal policy and public finance, inflation, public debt management and the functioning of Capital Market including Stock Exchanges. In this context, it looks at ways and means to raise internal resources through taxation, market borrowings and mobilization of small savings;

Monitoring and raising of external resources through multilateral and bilateral Official Development Assistance, sovereign borrowings abroad, foreign investments and monitoring foreign exchange resources including balance of payments;

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Production of bank notes and coins of various denominations, postal stationery, postal stamps; and Cadre management, career planning and training of the Indian Economic Service (IES).

Pranab Mukherjee, Former Finance Minister of India with US President George W. Bush .

Department of Expenditure The Department of Expenditure is the nodal Department for overseeing the public financial management system in the Central Government and matters connected with State finances. The principal activities of the Department include pre-sanction appraisal of major schemes/projects (both Plan and non-Plan expenditure), handling the bulk of the Central budgetary resources transferred to States, implementation of the recommendations of the Finance and Central Pay Commissions, overseeing the expenditure management in the Central Ministries/Departments through the interface with the Financial Advisors and the administration of the Financial Rules / Regulations / Orders through monitoring of Audit comments/observations, preparation of Central Government Accounts, managing the financial aspects of personnel management in the Central Government, assisting Central Ministries/Departments in controlling the costs and prices of public services, assisting organizational re-engineering through review of staffing patterns and O&M studies and reviewing systems and procedures to optimize outputs and outcomes of public expenditure. The Department is also coordinating matters concerning the Ministry of Finance including Parliament-related work of the Ministry. The Department has under its administrative control the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM), Faridabad.

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The business allocated to the Department of Expenditure is carried out through its Establishment Division, Plan Finance- I and II Divisions, Finance Commission Division, Staff Inspection Unit, Cost Accounts Branch, Controller General of Accounts and the Central Pension Accounting

Department of Revenue

The Department of Revenue functions under the overall direction and control of the Secretary (Revenue). It exercises control in respect of matters relating to all the Direct and Indirect Union Taxes through two statutory Boards namely, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). Each Board is headed by a Chairman who is also ex-officio Special Secretary to the Government of India ( Secretary level). Matters relating to the levy and collection of all Direct taxes are looked after by the CBDT whereas those relating to levy and collection of Customs and Central Excise duties and other Indirect taxes fall within the purview of the CBEC. The two Boards were constituted under the Central Board of Revenue Act, 1963. At present, the CBDT has six Members and the CBEC has five Members. The

Members are also ex-officio Secretaries to the Government of India. Members of CBDT are as follows: 1 Member (Income Tax) 2 Member (Legislation and Computerisation) 3 Member (Revenue) 4 Member (Personnel & Vigilance) 5 Member (Investigation) 6 Member (Audit & Judicial)

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Department of Financial Services The Department of Financial Services covers Banks, Insurance and Financial Services provided by various government agencies and private corporations. It also covers pension reforms and Industrial Finance and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Sector.

Department of Disinvestments Initially set up as an independent ministry (The Ministry of Disinvestment) in December 1999, The Department of Disinvestments came into existence in May 2004 when the ministry was turned into a department of the Ministry of Finance. The department took up all the functions of the erstwhile ministry which broadly was responsible for systematic policy approach to disinvestment andprivatisation of Public Sector Units (PSUs).

Ministry of Corporate Affairs (India)

The Ministry of Company Affairs (MCA) is an Indian government ministry. It is charged with administering the Companies Act 1956 and other acts related to Indian private sector. It is responsible mainly for regulation of Indian enterprises in Industrial and Services sector. The current minister of corporate affairs is Sachin Pilot.

The ministry administers the following acts:

The Companies Act 1956 (basic law governing the creation, existence, and dissolution of companies, and the relationships between the shareholders, the company, the public, and the government.

The Competition Act 2002 The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act 1969 The Chartered Accountants Act 1949 [As amended by the Chartered Accountants (Amendment) Act, 2006]

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The Company Secretaries Act 1980 [As amended by The Company Secretaries (Amendment) Act, 2006]

Cost and Works Accountants Act 1959 [As Amended By The Cost And Works Accountants (Amendment) Act, 2006]

Companies (Donation to National) Fund Act 1951 Partnership Act 1932 Societies Registration Act 1860 The Companies Amendment Act, 2006

IRDA IRDA may refer to:

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, the administrative agency of Government of India for insurance sector supervision and development

Infrared Data Association, in information and communications technology, a standard for communication between devices (such as computers, PDAs and mobile phones) over short distances using infrared signals

Intermittent rhythmic delta activity, a type of abnormal brain wave Iskandar Regional Development Authority, a key entity to the successful implementation of Iskandar Development Region, Malaysia

Irda (Dragonlance), a fictional species in the Dragonlance series International Reborn Doll Artists, a group promoting the making of reborn dolls

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National Pension Scheme

PFRDA Logo with original colours

The National Pension System (NPS) is a defined contribution based pension system launched by Government of India with effect from 1 January 2004. Like most other developing countries, India does not have a universal social security system to protect the elderly against economic deprivation. As a first step towards instituting pension reforms, Government of India moved from a defined benefit pension to a defined contribution based pension system. Apart from offering wide gamut of investment options to employees, this scheme would help government of India to reduce its pension liabilities. Unlike existing pension fund of Government of India that offered assured benefits, NPS has defined contribution and individuals can decide where to invest their money. The scheme is structured into two tiers:

Tier-I account: This NPS account does not allow premature withdrawal and is available from 1 May 2009

Tier-II account: The tier-II NPS account permits withdrawal.

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Since 1 April 2008, the pension contributions of Central Government employees covered by the National Pension System (NPS) are being invested by professional Pension Fund Managers in line with investment guidelines of Government applicable to non-Government Provident Funds. A majority of State Governments have also shifted to the defined contribution based National Pension System from varying dates. 27 State/UT Governments have notified the NPS for their new employees. Of these, 6 states have already signed agreements with the intermediaries of the NPS architecture appointed by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) for carrying forward the implementation of the National Pension System. The other States are in the process of finalization of documentation.

Regulator Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is the prudential regulator for the NPS. PFRDA was established by the Government of India on 23 August 2003 to promote old age income security by establishing, developing and regulating pension funds. PFRDA has set up a Trust under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 to oversee the functions of the PFMs. The NPS Trust is composed of members representing diverse fields and brings wide range of talent to the regulatory framework.

Coverage and eligibility NPS was made available to all citizens of India on voluntary basis and is mandatory for employees of central government (except armed forces) appointed on or after 1 January 2004. All Indian citizens between the age of 18 and 55 can join the NPS.

Tier-I is mandatory for all Govt. servants joining Govt. service on or after 1.1.2004. In Tier I, Govt. servants will have to make a contribution of 10% of his Basic Pay, DP and DA which will be deducted from his salary bill every month. The Govt. will make an equal matching contribution. Since 1 April 2008, the pension contributions of Central Government employees covered by the NPS are being invested by professional Pension Fund Managers in line

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with investment guidelines of Government. However, there will be no contribution from the Government in respect of individuals who are not Government employees. The contributions and returns thereon would be deposited in a non-with drawable pension account.

In addition to the above pension account, each individual can have a voluntary tier-II with drawable account at his option. Government will make no contribution into this account. These assets would be managed in the same manner as the pension. The accumulations in this account can be withdrawn anytime without assigning any reason. Its estimated that 8 crore citizens of India are eligible to join the NPS.

Operational structure

NPS is designed to leverage network of bank branches and post offices to collect contributions and ensure that there is seamless transfer of accumulations in case of change of employment and/or location of the subscriber. It offers a basket of investment choices and Fund managers. Dhirendra Swarup is one of the founders. There will be one or more CRA, several PFMs to choose from which will offer different categories of schemes. The participating entities (PFMs, CRA etc.) would give out easily understood information about past performance & regular NAVs, so that the individual would able to make informed choices about which scheme to choose. PFMs would share this common CRA infrastructure. The PFMs would invest the savings people put into their PRAs, investing them in three asset classes, equity (E),government securities (G) and debt instruments that entail credit risk (C), including corporate bondsand fixed deposits.

Contribution guidelines The following contribution guidelines have been set by the PFRDA:

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Minimum amount per contribution: Rs. 500 per month Minimum number of contributions: 1 in a year Minimum annual contribution: Rs 6,000 in each subscriber account.

If the subscriber is unable to contribute the minimum annual contribution, a default penalty of Rs.100 per year of default would be levied and the account would become dormant. In order to re-activate the account, subscriber will have to pay the minimum contributions, along with penalty due. A dormant account will be closed when the account value falls to zero.

Investment options

Under the investment guidelines finalized for the NPS, pension fund managers will manage three separate schemes, each investing in a different asset class. The three asset classes are equity, government securities and credit risk-bearing fixed income instruments. The subscriber will have the option to actively decide as to how the NPS pension wealth is to be invested in three asset classes: 1. E Class: Investment would primarily be in Equity market instruments. It would invest in Index funds that replicate the portfolio of either BSE Sensitive index or NSE Nifty 50 index. 2. G Class: Investment would be in Government securities like GOI bonds and State Govt. bonds 3. C Class: Investment would be in fixed income securities other than Government Securities * Liquid Funds of AMCs regulated by SEBI with filters suggested by the Expert Group * Fixed Deposits of scheduled commercial banks with filters * Debt securities with maturity of not less than three years tenure issued by bodies Corporate including scheduled commercial banks and public financial institutions Credit Rated Public Financial Institutions/PSU Bonds Credit Rated Municipal Bonds/Infrastructure Bonds

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In case the subscriber does not exercise any choice as regards asset allocation, the contribution will be invested in accordance with the Auto choice option. In this option the investment will be determined by a predefined portfolio. At the lowest age of entry (18 years) the auto choice will entail investment of 50% of pension wealth in E Class, 30% in C Class and 20% in G Class. These ratios of investment will remain fixed for all contributions until the participant reaches the age of 36. From age 36 onwards, the weight in E and C asset class will decrease annually and the weight in G class will increase annually till it reaches 10% in E, 10% in C and 80% in G class at age 55. The following table will illustrates this auto choice more clearly-

Class Till the of age 35 years At age 55 Years

50%

10%

30%

10%

20%

80%

Investment charges NPS levies extremely low Investment management charge of 0.00010% on net AUM (Asset Under Management). This is extremely low as compared to charges levied by mutual funds or other investment products. Initial charge of opening the account would be Rs. 470. From second year onwards the minimum charge would be Rs. 350 a year. As per the offer document of NPS, annual and transaction charges would be reduced once the number of accounts in CRA reaches 10 lakh.

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Withdrawal norms If subscriber exits before 60 years of age, he/she has to invest 80% of accumulated saving to purchase a life annuity from IRDA regulate life insurer. The remaining 20% may be withdrawn as lump sum. On exit after age 60 years from the pension system, the subscriber would be required to invest at least 40% of pension wealth to purchase an annuity. In case of Government employees, the annuity should provide for pension for the lifetime of the employee and his dependent parents and his spouse at the time of retirement. If subscriber does not exit the system at or before 70 years, account would be closed with the benefits transferred to subscriber in lump sum. If a subscriber dies, the nominee has the option to receive the entire pension wealth as a lump sum.

Tax treatment The offer document of NPS does not specify the tax benefits in elaborate manner. It specifies Tax benefits would be applicable as per Income Tax Act, 1961 as amended from time to time. As per current provisions, withdrawals under the NPS attract tax under the EET (exempt-exempt-taxable) system, which means that while contributions and returns to the NPS are exempt up to a limit, withdrawals would be taxed as normal income (EET).

To make the National Pension System more attractive Government has announced two major Income tax concessions for contributions made in National Pension System in the budget 2011.

While the NPS subscribers are directly benefited from one of these Income tax concessions, the second one is beneficial to the employers who contribute for NPS each month equivalent to employees contribution in Tier I.

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Income tax concession to Employees under NPS:

So far, the contribution made by a National Pension System subscriber in Tier I scheme is deductible from the total income under Section 80CCD of the Income Tax Act. Like wise, the contribution made by the employer for the employee in Tier I of National Pension System is also deductible under Section 80CCD. However, the aggregate deduction under Section 80C, 80CCC and 80CCD is fixed at Rs.1 lakh.

So, if the NPS subscriber is already having other eligible deductions such as LIC premium, PPF, bank or NSC deposits, ELSS etc., under Section 80C, 80CCC and Section 80CCD., deduction allowed under Section 80CCD in respect of National Pension System may not be of much useful as the overall limit of savings eligible for deduction is pegged at Rs. 1 lakh.

Further, contribution made by the National Pension System should also be included in the Total income of NPS subscriber as far as calculation of income tax is concerned, while full deduction of the same from income under Section 80CCD may not be possible as other savings made by the subscriber covers the overall limit of Rs.1 lakh under Section 80CCD. Hence, for a NPS subscriber contribution for NPS by the Government is taxable in most of the cases.

For example, if an employee receives a salary of Rs.40,000 (pay+da), 10% of the same (Rs.4000) is paid by him as contribution towards NPS. The Government will also be paying Rs.4000 in this case in NPS fund of the said employee. Until now, an amount of Rs.96,000 (Rs.48,000+Rs.48000) could be deductible from the total income as far as this employee is concerned under Section 80CCD.

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However, if the said employee has been paying LIC premium of Rs.20,000 per year, he will be allowed to deduct only Rs.4000 in respect of the same under Section 80CC as total ceiling of Rs.1,00,000 under Section 80CCE will apply in this case. So, an eligible deduction of Rs.16,000 could not be availed under Section 80CCD. In other words, employer contribution to NPS to an extent of Rs.16,000, which is already included in the income is taxable in this case.

However, the Finance Act, 2011 amended section 80CCE so as to provide that the contribution made by the Central Government or any other employer to the pension scheme under section 80CCD shall be excluded from the limit of one lakh rupees provided under section 80CCE. This proposal is effective from the assessment year 2012-13 (financial year 2011-12) and would totally exempt employer's contribution in NPS from levying income tax on the employee.

Income tax concession to Employers under NPS:

The Finance Act, 2011 amended section 36 so as to provide that any sum paid by the assessee as an employer by way of contribution towards a pension National Pension System(NPS) to the extent it does not exceed ten per cent of the salary of the employee, shall be allowed as deduction in computing the income under the head Profits and gains of business or profession.

This amendment will be effective from 1 April 2012 and will be applicable to the assessment year 2012-13 (for the income earned in the financial year 2011-12) and subsequent years.

Past investment returns

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The NPS architecture has been managing money since April 2008. Rs.2100 crore is invested as corpus of Central Government employees. In 2008-09, as per unaudited results of the Pension Funds, the average weighted return on the corpus have been over 14.5% with the individual returns of three Pension Funds varying from 12% to 16% on the NPS corpus during the year 2008-09, weighted average return being over 14.5 per cent. According to the latest data released by the government in Parliament on Aug 23, 2011, return on investment is as low as 1.8% in case of those private sector employees, who opted for investments in government securities, the safest of the categories. The performance of the three pension fund managers for the central government employees indicate that the returns on subscribers' contributions under NPS ranged between 8% and 16% during 2008-09 and 2010-11.

Swavalamban Yojana As mentioned in the operating guidelines issued by MoF, "Government will contribute Rs. 1000 per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11 and for the next three years, that is, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. As a special case and in recognition of their faith in the NPS, all NPS accounts opened in 2009-10 will be entitled to the benefit of Government contribution under this scheme as if they were opened as new accounts in 2010-11 subject to the condition that they fulfill all the eligibility criteria prescribed under these guidelines."

Accordingly, the basic eligibility criteria for joining the Swavalamban Yojana for a subscriber is given below: Permanent Retirement Account should be opened in the year 2009-10 or 2010-11 and Minimum contribution should be Rs. 1,000 per annum (Financial year) in Tier I account and maximum contribution should be Rs. 12,000 per annum (Financial year) in both Tier I as well as Tier II account together.

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