SBI Pension Fund continues to be the best pension fund manager (PFM) for the New Pension Scheme (NPS) opened for the Central and state government employees. SBI, which manages almost Rs 1,650 crore, has generated 13.41 per cent return in the first six months of the fiscal. For the last financial year, SBI had generated 16.5 per cent returns.

During April and September 2009, two other PFMs — UTI Retirement Solutions, with a corpus size of Rs 1,200 crore, and LIC Pension Fund, with Rs 150 crore — have managed to generate 12.73 per cent and 10.57 per cent returns respectively. On the whole, nearly 6.48 lakh subscribers have gained an average weighted return of 12.38 per cent between April and September. Last year, SBI Pension Funds had generated 16.5 per cent return, UTI managed 13.5 per cent and LIC generated 11.6 per cent returns for its subscribers.

“The weighted average return generated by the three PFMs is 12.38 per cent for the first three months,” NR Rayalu, chief executive officer, NPS Trust told The Indian Express. The two mutual fund pension schemes in comparison fared better. The pension corpus of UTI Retirement Benefit Pension plan grew by 24.68 per cent during the same time. While Templeton India Pension, on the other hand, has registered 23.47 per cent return in the first six months of the fiscal. Both these funds invest tad more than 50 per cent in debt and around 40 per cent in equities. The NPS, however, has restricted its equity exposure to 15 per cent and has invested heavily into debt instruments.

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