HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh (left) and Bharat Chamber of Commerce president Santosh Rungta (centre) in Calcutta on Monday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Jan. 31: HDFC will consider floating a separate pension organisation after the sector opens up.

?We are anxiously waiting for the pension sector to open up and we will take further decisions based on the rules and regulations of the sector,? chairman Deepak Parekh said on the sidelines of a session organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

?The rules will bring more synergy between asset management and life insurance and the guidelines will provide the details on foreign participation and other aspects,? Parekh said.

In the life insurance segment, HDFC has a joint venture with Standard Life and Parekh said further association in the pension sector would be completely dependent on the norms set by the regulatory body.

The government had promulgated an ordinance on December 29 to set up the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority and will appoint its chairman and members this month while the bill will be introduced in the budget session.

It will also provide guidelines on the number of players, prudential norms, investment criteria and capital requirement for pension fund managers. Apart from meeting minimum capital requirements and having an experience of five years, pension fund managers would be selected on the basis of fees they propose to charge.

The regulator will also be empowered to set up a central record keeping agency (CRA), the nodal point that will handle the new 'defined contribution' pension scheme. There are about five to six entities, which have already bid for the mandate to manage the CRA. These include National Security Depository Limited, Central Services Depository Limited, Unit Trust of India-Investor Service Limited, Stock Holding Corporation of India and the US-based Principal group.

The new pension scheme will offer three broad products ? equity, balanced and debt ? depending on the age and risk appetite of the investors, who will have the flexibility to switch schemes and pension fund managers. Unlike the defined benefit scheme, the new system does not assure guaranteed returns to investors.