The pension regulator PFRDA has granted a licence to DSP Investment Managers to run pension fund management business, reported Business Line. This licence has been given as a sponsor of a pension fund.
The regulator’s board has given approval to DSP Investment Managers as a sponsor, Supratim Bandyopadhyay, Chairman, PFRDA said.
He highlighted that PFRDA these days is giving licences only to the sponsor of a pension fund. With this move, DSP Group will be the eleventh pension fund manager in the pension fund management space in India.
The latest licence to DSP Investment Managers is understood has come after the applicant used the on-tap licensing window open between mid-April and May 17 this year for awarding licences to pension fund sponsors.
This is the second year in a row when PFRDA opened such a window to enhance the number of pension fund managers in the country.
Pension management industry observers point out that DSP was not strictly a new player as the PFRDA had earlier awarded a licence to DSP Blackrock. However, with Blackrock having exited, the DSP Group had to again make a fresh application as a sponsor to obtain licence to run pension fund management business.
Currently, there are seven (the pension fund management arms of SBI, UTI, LIC, ICICI, HDFC, Aditya Birla SunLife and Kotak) functioning Pension Fund Managers and three (Axis Asset Management, Tata Asset Management and Max Life Insurance) are on the verge of commencing pension fund management business. Now, one more (DSP Investment Managers) will be added.
It may be recalled that PFRDA had last year opened an “on tap” window from July 1-31 for awarding licences to sponsors of pension funds.
The ‘on tap’ system is similar to what the RBI had allowed for new banking entrants.