The Narendra Modi government at the Center has presented a wonderful and big gift to crores of workers of the country. Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority i.e. PFRDA, working under the Central Government, has started such a tremendous pension scheme, in which investment can be started with just Rs 99. The most important thing is that no minimum or maximum limit has been set for contribution in this scheme, which simply means that employees can deposit money in it anytime according to their earnings and convenience.
There is a special scheme for workers like Zomato, Swiggy and Uber
This new pension scheme has been created mainly keeping in mind the gig and platform workers associated with many big digital companies like Zomato, Swiggy, Blinkit, Ola, Uber and Urban Company. According to the regulator, through this scheme, now even working people like common delivery boys and cab drivers can start saving for their old age and retirement with their small earnings.
Three exciting contribution options are available
Contribution of money in this special scheme can be started from just Rs 99, for which investors have been given a total of three excellent options. Under the first option, both the platform and the employee can jointly deposit money in the NPS account. In the second option, the employee can make the entire contribution on his own behalf. Additionally, in the third and last option, only the platform or aggregator can contribute the money on behalf of the employee. There is no minimum or maximum limit for depositing money in this entire process.
However, the platform and the employee may mutually agree to set a lower minimum amount for each contribution. Its biggest advantage is that these workers will not have the pressure of depositing a huge fixed amount every month, and they can gradually create a large fund for their retirement as per their convenience.
This is how the account will be opened and the KYC process will be completed.
To open an account under this scheme, first of all the KYC process of the gig worker is completed. For this, important information of the worker like name, address, PAN card, mobile number and bank account details are collected. This KYC process can be completed under government rules or by any other convenient method approved by PFRDA. As soon as the worker's consent is obtained, his permanent retirement account number i.e. PRAN is generated.
Initially, any digital platform can choose the investment scheme and pension fund for the worker, but once the onboarding process is completed, the worker can change these options at any time as per his wish.
After this, in the second phase, some other additional information is collected, which includes the name of the parents, email ID and details of the nominee. As per the rules, it is mandatory to enter the nominee information within 60 days of onboarding. If an employee is working for multiple platforms at the same time, initially his NPS account will be opened through one aggregator only, which can be easily ported or transferred to another platform later, if needed.