Implementing an Inclusive and Equitable Pension Reform: Lessons from India's New Pension Scheme

Abstract

India is aging. One response of Indian policy makers has been introduction of the New Pension Scheme (NPS), a defined contribution pension scheme which is mandatory for civil servants and voluntary for the rest of the population. Given the size of the target population, even if take-up is modest, NPS savings may soon provide huge amounts of capital to India's economy. However, challenges are abound. What governance structure will best achieve the ultimate policy goal of serving the needs of savers? What business processes and information technology design will serve members best? How effectively will the NPS attack the problem of old-age poverty? In this book, a multi-disciplinary international team, comprising of economists, lawyers, pension management experts, and capital market experts, explore these and other questions. The book proposes significant legal, regulatory, and governance reforms for the NPS and other existing pension schemes, as well. It finds that current NPS business practices cannot keep pace with potential growth of the system and makes suggestions on how to take better advantage of information technology. Based on review of experience elsewhere and state-of-the-art economic-demographic modelling, it warns that the NPS in its current form does not address the retirement income needs of the lifelong very poor, suggesting that it is only one in a range of responses needed to cope with the challenges of population aging in India.

Copublished by Routledge.