Universal Pension Scheme: 18,000 pay premiums over Tk 26cr
Staff Reporter :
Since the inauguration of Universal Pension Scheme (UPS) on August 17, around 18,000 subscribers registered with the UPS have paid over Tk 26 crore as premiums. Among them, more than 50 percent submitting the installments of premiums are from the private sector.
Till the January 24, the number of contributors to this public pension scheme has reached 18, 250. They have submitted the instalmentstotaling Tk 26.11 crore, according to the relevant source.
More than 2,000 of these contributors have submitted the first installments, totaling approximately Tk1 crore in the day of inauguration of the UPS. 12,972 people enrolled in the UPS in the first 30 days, depositing a total of Tk 7.7 crore, according to the National Pension Authority (NPA).
After that, much-hyped Universal Pension Scheme experienced slow growth in last four months with low rate of enrollment.
Initially, four types of packages – Pragati, Surokkha, Samata and Prabashi – were introduced for people of four different types of communities.
After five months since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina flagged it off, the Progoti scheme, which is meant for private sector employers, saw 7,592 enrollments with depositing a total of Tk 14.1crore.
However, the number of contributors of Progoti scheme was 6,194 enrollments referring an sluggish growth of new enrollments.
Likewise, The Surokkha scheme, which is designed for the self-employed and the informal sector workers like farmers, rickshaw pullers and day laborers, saw the next highest number of enrollments: 7573 which was 5,020 on September 17, last year. Since January24, 2567 people signed up for the ultra-poor group’s Somota scheme, while the Probash scheme for the expatriates had 518 takers.
Earlier on 17 September, four months ago, the number was some 1,360 people for Somota scheme, while the Probash scheme had 398 takers.
As perUPS, under the Surokkha scheme, people can deposit Tk 1,000, Tk 2,000, Tk 3,000 or Tk 5,000 in monthly installments.
The monthly installment fee under the Somota scheme is Tk 1,000 whereas under the Probash scheme, it is Tk 5,000, Tk 7,500 or Tk 10,000.
For the Progoti scheme, monthly installment options are Tk 2,000, Tk 3,000 and Tk 5,000.
Regarding the slow progression of UPS after seeing an over-hype in first few days, Golam Mustafa, a member of National Pension Authority said, “at the beginning, some people may be in hurry.
As the UPS is a contributory fund and it’s taking some period of time to mature; now, the new contributors are working with more calculation, confidence, trust and patience.
Marking UPS as a commendable initiative by the Government, Golam Mustafa, hoped that the UPS will get ‘momentum’ soon.
Meanwhile, Taxpayers’ investments in the Universal Pension Scheme now considered tax-free, according to a recent gazette notification by the National Board of Revenue.
According to the gazette notification issued on November 5, any income against the investment on the UPS and the amount investing on such a scheme are included in the sixth schedule of the Income Tax Act 2023.
