RAS question
The National Pension System (NPS) is regulated by:
Correct answer: (B) PFRDA.
The National Pension System is regulated and supervised by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, commonly called PFRDA.
Explanation
PFRDA is the regulator for the National Pension System because NPS is a pension product, not a banking, insurance, or securities-market product. The PFRDA page on NPS describes it as a defined contribution pension system introduced by the Government of India in 2004 and regulated and supervised by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. A subscriber contributes to a retirement corpus under a pension framework, so the specialist pension regulator is the relevant authority. NPS was first launched for government employees in 2004, later extended to all citizens in 2009, and works as a defined contribution scheme.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) RBI is the banking regulator, while NPS is a defined contribution pension system regulated by PFRDA.
- (C) IRDA regulates insurance, but NPS is a pension system regulated and supervised by PFRDA.
- (D) SEBI regulates securities markets, whereas NPS is framed as a pension system and is regulated by PFRDA.
Concept
This tests financial-sector regulators in the Indian Economy syllabus. It recurs in RAS because questions often separate banking, insurance, securities, and pension regulators through one-line institutional facts.