Regulatory turf war in offing on pension funds

Hyderabad: In a development that could highlight overlap in the mandates of two regulators, pension fund regulator sought a clarification from the government on its jurisdiction over pensions plans offered by mutual funds and insurance companies. “Since we became a statutory body in 2013, we are the designated regulator of the pension industry. So we have told government that all the other pension schemes floated by MFs, insurance companies should actually be regulated by us. The government is looking into our demand and has in fact set up a committee to look into the issues,” said Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) chairman Hemanth Contractor he said. Mutual funds come under regulatory supervision of Sebi, while insurance companies are regulated by IRDAI.

A similar regulatory overlap seven years back over Ulips had led to a turf war between then Sebi chairman C.B. Bhave and then IRDA chief J. Harinarayan. When the issue got reached the Supreme Court, then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee intervened and ruled in favour of IRDA through an ordinance.

After announcing the appointment of Karvy Compushare as the second central record-keeping agency for serving NPS subscribers, Mr Contractor said he had asked the government to allow state and Centre employees, who have subscribed to NPS, to invest 50 per cent of their funds in equity markets as against the current 15 per cent.