Pension players looking for tax benefits in budget

The pension industry players are hopeful that the upcoming Budget will bring in some tax benefits to the sector.

The pension industry players are hopeful that the upcoming Budget will bring in some tax benefits to the sector.

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"We are hopeful that the Government would give more tax benefits to subscribers under the new pension system," LIC Pension Fund CEO, H Sadhak, said.

The new pension system (NPS) was extended to all citizens from May 1 this year, but attracted only a lukewarm response.

From the launch of the scheme till date, only 650 people have joined the scheme and a corpus of Rs 80-lakh has been accumulated.

"Tax incentives to subscribers under the NPS would make the scheme more attractive," Sadhak said.

The new pension system was first introduced to Government employees in 2004.

The players are seeking a separate threshold for IT deductions for long-term savings.

"We expect the Government to make a separate tax savings slab under Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act for long-term saving schemes like pension and insurance," ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Management, Director-on-Board, Tarun Chugh, said.

Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act provides for a deduction of up to Rs 1-lakh to an individual for making investments in certain savings instruments or incurring expenditure on tuition fees and repayment of housing loan.

"An another slab of Rs 1-lakh should be made available for long-term savings plans," Chugh said.