ICICI Pension launches NPS Swasthya Equity Plus under pension regulator sandbox

ICICI

ICICI Pension Fund Management Company launched ICICI PF NPS Swasthya Equity Plus, a pilot project under the regulatory sandbox of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) on February 20, which specifically aims for medical expenditures.

“With increasing longevity and rising healthcare costs, retirement planning needs to account for medical contingencies. This scheme is a step in that direction,” Sumit Mohindra, Chief Executive Officer at ICICI Prudential Pension Fund Management said.

The project, which has been launched in partnership with Apollo Hospitals, allows subscribers to withdraw up to 25 percent of their own contributions for medical expenditure via the Apollo 24/7 platform, while the remaining corpus stays until retirement.

Moreover, during a case of emergency, a 100 percent withdrawal of the corpus is allowed, if medical expenses exceed 70 percent of the total corpus accumulated. While there is no limit on the partial withdrawals, the first withdrawal is allowed only after an accumulation of at least Rs 50,000.

Some of the benefits include discounts up to 20 percent, based on the services availed at Apollo Hospitals or via the Apollo 24/7 platform.

The scheme will be equity-heavy, with the pension fund allowing an allocation to the asset between 70 percent and 100 percent. Up to 30 percent can be allotted towards debt and 10 percent can be allocated towards other money market instruments, according to the release.