HDFC Pension Management Company Ltd (HDFC Pension), a leading pension fund manager, expects to surpass industry growth in NPS assets this fiscal year, its Chief Executive Officer Sriram Iyer has said. 

This company had doubled its Assets Under Management (AUM) from ₹30,000 crore to nearly ₹60,000 crore since June 2022. India’s NPS assets AUM has been recording CAGR of about 25 percent over last five years, touching a milestone mark of ₹10-lakh crore as of August 25 this year.

With 16.92 lakh subscribers, HDFC Pension is the fastest-growing pension fund manager in India, particularly in corporate and retail NPS segments. The company, a 100 per cent subsidiary of HDFC Life Insurance, is the largest corporate NPS PoP among pension fund managers in the country.

“In the last 18 months we had doubled our AUM. I will not be able to comment on whether we will be able to double AUM again in the next 18 months. But I have reasonable confidence that our AUM will grow faster than industry growth for current fiscal”,  Iyer told businessline in an interview on the eve of Pension Diwas on October 1.

HDFC Pension is focusing on adding more corporate subscribers, targeting an average of 100 new corporates per month. HDFC Pension, which has 2,200 corporates on board, is currently adding on an average 50-60 new corporates every month in the NPS corporate segment. 

The company acknowledges the need to educate employees in the private sector about the benefits of NPS to further boost adoption, noting that employee adoption was still low among the private sector companies who had signed up for NPS.

Iyer attributed the company’s robust growth in recent years to consistent focus on the NPS continuum, from acquisition to managing contributions and providing annuity products on retirement. 

While the point of presence (PoP) licence (obtained in 2019) helps acquire new customers and onboard them to NPS, the pension fund management company manages the contributions and accumulations of the customers during their working life and finally, through the parent company (HDFC Life Insurance), gives these customer an annuity product at the time of exit from the NPS on retirement. 

HDFC’s strong brand has also contributed to building trust and expanding their customer base, Iyer noted.

To mark Pension Diwas on October 1, HDFC Pension has introduced the NPS Preference Index, revealing the preferences of NPS among different consumer groups. The index currently stands at 54, indicating moderate preference influenced by familiarity, appeal, and consideration. 

NPS Preference Index improves with increasing income level of consumers. North India has the highest NPS Preference Index (57) compared to other regions.

Iyer emphasised the opportunity to enhance retirement planning in India, ranking it fourth in people’s priorities, with significant potential for players like HDFC Pension to create a meaningful impact in this journey.

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