Atal Pension Yojana: Upgrade/Downgrade of Pension is Now Available Throughout the Year

In its endeavor to make the Atal Pension Yojana attractive and to benefit 2.28 Crore subscribers enrolled under the scheme, PFRDA has asked all banks to process upgrade/ downgrade of pension amount requests of APY subscribers throughout the year with effect from 1st July 2020, however; once in a financial year. This arrangement will enable the APY subscribers to increase/decrease their pension plans as per their changed income levels and capacity to pay APY contributions, which is very important to continue contributions in the scheme till 60 years. Earlier this facility was available only during the month of April of every year.

Apart from the above, from 1st of July, 2020 auto-debit of APY contributions has also started ,which was stopped till 30th June, 2020 due to PFRDA’s circular issued on 11th April, 2020 for providing relief to the APY subscribers from out-break of Covid-19. As per current arrangements, if all the pending APY contributions due between April-August, 2020 get auto-debited from Savings account of the subscribers, latest by 30th September, 2020; then no penal-interest would be charged to them.

Further, in order to enable subscribers to follow social-distancing norms and promote digital utilities PFRDA has also sent one communication to all Banks describing usage and ways to access digital utilities for few functionalities available online for facilitating APY subscribers to access their APY accounts and get various forms without visiting their Bank branch. These functionalities include downloading Upgrade/ downgrade form, PRAN Card Printing, View/download of APY e-PRAN with complete subscriber’s details ,Transaction Statement, APY Subscriber Information Brochure and Subscriber Details Modification Form.  Subscriber’s can also lodge their grievances at Central Grievances Management System (CGMS), download of Mobile Application, access to Youtube videos on APY Ki Pathshala. The information on these features is expected to benefit APY subscribers and empower them to carry out APY related activities smoothly.

The Atal Pension Yojana is launched by Government of India in the May, 2015 and is being administered by PFRDA. This scheme is open to all Citizens of India for joining who are in the age group of 18-40 years, through the bank-branches or post offices where they have their Savings Bank accounts. Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs.1000 to Rs.5000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years, depending upon his contributions. After the death of such subscribers, same pension amount would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both subscriber and spouse, the accumulated pension wealth as accumulated till age 60 years of the subscriber would be returned to the nominee.

The scheme is currently being distributed through 258 active APY Service Providers consisting of Banks and post-offices as this scheme is only available to those who have a Savings Bank account. PFRDA regularly advises all its APY Service Providers to promote the scheme for its outreach to the ultimate prospective customers. All Public Sector, Private, Regional Rural, Small Finance, Payment and Co-operative Banks enthusiastically participate in the various promotional campaigns run by PFRDA throughout the year.

More than 5 lac new subscribers have been enrolled under APY in first quarter of the FY 2020-21 out of which around 4 lac subscribers joined APY in the month of June, 2020.

PFRDA Introduces OTP Based Authentication for “Paperless NPS on Boarding”

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is mandated to promote old age income security i.e. pension in India and to protect the interests of subscribers of pension systems and schemes. As part of its developmental mandate and to increase the outreach of National Pension System (NPS), PFRDA has taken series of steps to ensure ease of NPS on boarding through various convenient modes. 

In its endeavor to provide digital solutions, PFRDA has already enabled opening of online NPS Account in a paperless manner through e- signature. In order to further facilitate ease of NPS Account opening, the subscribers are now permitted to open their NPS account through One Time Password (OTP) also.

In this process, the customers of banks (registered as POPs- Points of Presence), who wish to open NPS Account through internet banking of the respective banks, can open    NPS Accounts using OTP received on their registered mobile number.  

However, for opening of NPS Accounts through non internet banking digital mode, through POPs (Banks as well as Non - Bank POPs), OTP received on their registered mobile number and email can be used for paperless NPS Account opening.

Post completion of KYC, POPs have to submit the NPS Subscriber's data/information to Central Record Keeping Agencies (CRAs) along with his photo and image of signature with an undertaking that the KYC/AML guidelines/rules have been duly complied with.

POPs and CRAs have been advised by PFRDA to provide the required functionality of OTP based authentication. This process would ensure seamless account opening, end to end digitization and optimizing of investment returns by deposit of contributions in a faster way.

PFRDA administers more than 3.60 crore subscribers under National Pension System with an aggregate Asset under Management (AUM) of more than Rs. 4.55 lac crore. Out of total subscribers, 2.25 crore subscribers are under Atal Pension Yojana (APY). 

Will BT cuts 15,000 more jobs in 2009?

Britain's BT Group cut its dividend and said a further 15,000 jobs would go after a 1.58 billion pound ($2.4 billion) write down and restructuring at its Global Services unit drove it to a fourth quarter loss.

The group, which had for years looked for growth at its Global Services unit which supplies the IT needs of multinational companies, also said it would almost double its pension contributions to 525 million pounds ($794.1 million) a year.

BT, which has twice previously in the past year warned about profits at the Global Services unit, said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and contract and financial review charges were 1.35 billion pounds, down 14 percent.

Profit before tax on an adjusted basis was down 40 percent and on a reported basis showed a 1.28 billion pound loss.

To help meet its increased pension obligations, BT cut its final dividend to 1.1 pence to give a full year dividend of 6.5 pence, which was down 59 percent on last year.

The pension contributions will almost double from the previous 280 million pound annual payment to 525 million pounds a year for the next three financial years.

BT has been engaged in a three-yearly pension review to establish the size of its deficit and what it should contribute to the scheme on an annual basis, based on its asset values and liabilities.

The last review in 2006 put BT's deficit at 3.4 billion pounds and set annual contributions on a 10-year recovery plan at 280 million pounds.

BT said on Thursday the contributions would rise to 525 million pounds but did not reveal the new deficit from the three-year review.

A leading pensions expert said on Wednesday that BT's pension deficit now stood at 11 billion pounds

BT said its triennial pension funding valuation was at an advanced state of completion. It did give its pension position at March 31 on an IAS 19 accounting basis as a deficit of 2.9 billion pounds net of tax, compared with a surplus of 2 billion pounds last year.

"Three out of four of BT's lines of business have performed well in spite of fierce competition and the global economic downturn," Chief Executive Ian Livingston said.

"However this achievement has been overshadowed by the unacceptable performance of BT Global Services and the resulting charges we have taken."

Agencies

No raise for Hewlett-Packard employees

If you are a Hewlett-Packard employee, you don’t have a raise coming your way. According to an internal memo, the company plans to use the funds meant for raises and bonuses to fund pension plans and other benefits. Interestingly, the memo also indicates that the upper management has nothing to worry.

Employees have been notified by e-mail that they won’t receive a salary increase in fiscal 2009, which began in November. The world’s largest personal-computer maker is freezing salaries as part of Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd’s efforts to contain costs. The company has already gone ahead and cut jobs, closed offices and merged data centers to lift profit. It is also limiting travel, curtailing hiring and eliminating “favorite science projects” to save on research costs in 2009, Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said last month on a conference call.

Hewlett-Packard, which has 320,000 employees, declined to confirm the salary freeze. “In this difficult macroeconomic environment, we believe it is prudent and responsible to reduce costs where possible,” said spokeswoman Emma McCulloch. “HP has a longstanding and disciplined approach to managing costs in order to invest in the company’s growth.”

Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, the shares have dropped 34 per cent this year.

Hurd, who became CEO in 2005, received $25.3 million in total compensation in fiscal 2007.

Source: Economic Times

No raise for Hewlett-Packard employees

If you are a Hewlett-Packard employee, you don’t have a raise coming your way. According to an internal memo, the company plans to use the funds meant for raises and bonuses to fund pension plans and other benefits. Interestingly, the memo also indicates that the upper management has nothing to worry.

Employees have been notified by e-mail that they won’t receive a salary increase in fiscal 2009, which began in November. The world’s largest personal-computer maker is freezing salaries as part of Chief Executive Officer Mark Hurd’s efforts to contain costs. The company has already gone ahead and cut jobs, closed offices and merged data centers to lift profit. It is also limiting travel, curtailing hiring and eliminating “favorite science projects” to save on research costs in 2009, Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said last month on a conference call.

Hewlett-Packard, which has 320,000 employees, declined to confirm the salary freeze. “In this difficult macroeconomic environment, we believe it is prudent and responsible to reduce costs where possible,” said spokeswoman Emma McCulloch. “HP has a longstanding and disciplined approach to managing costs in order to invest in the company’s growth.”

Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, California, the shares have dropped 34 per cent this year.

Hurd, who became CEO in 2005, received $25.3 million in total compensation in fiscal 2007.

Source: Economic Times