Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has received proposal forms of technical and financial bids issued on June 12, from four selected contenders for fund managers of the pension fund set up for state and central government employees under the New Pension System (NPS).

The four contenders — Life Insurance Corporation, Unit Trust of India, State Bank of India, and Industrial Development Bank of India — were chosen out of seven applicants, three of which, namely Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Securities Trading Corporation could not meet the eligibility criteria set up by the regulator.

“The contenders who have submitted the bids will first be assessed on the basis of their technical bids followed by financial bids,” said D Swarup, chairman, PFRDA. .

This money will be invested on market based returns in instruments ranging from government securities to equities. For now, this money is being kept in a public account, on which, the government pays a return of 8 per cent.