SBI, LIC, UTI three best for pension funds

New Delhi, July 20 (UNI) The State Bank of India (SBI), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and UTI Asset Management Company Private Limited have been found as the three best value bidders and have been recommended as sponsors of Pension Funds under the new Pension System.

Based on the overall evaluation, including technical and commercial parameters, the Committee constituted by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has found the three financial institutions as three best value bidders and recommended their appointment, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Report of the Committee is under consideration of the PFRDA.

The PFRDA had invited Expressions of Interest (EOI) from public sector entities for sponsoring Pension Funds for Government employees on May 11, 2007. To be eligible, the sponsors were required to have at least five years experience of fund management and average assets under management of not less than Rs 10,000 crore.

The last date for submission of EoI was May 25, 2007.

In response, EoIs were received from seven public sector entities namely, Canara Bank, IDBI Capital Market Services Limited, Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India , UTI Asset Management Company Private Limited, Securities Trading Corporation of India Limited and Punjab National Bank.

Of these seven entities, four were found to be eligible. They were invited for issuance of Request for Proposal (RFP) for sponsoring Pension Funds under the NPS. The four entities to which the Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued on June 11, 2007 are IDBI Capital Market Services Limited, Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India and UTI Asset Management Company Private Limited.

Proposals from all the four entities, including technical and commercial bids were received in PFRDA by the deadline of July 4, 2007. A Committee was constituted by PFRDA and entrusted with the responsibility of evaluation of the proposals received from the eligible entities and to short-list the three best value bidders in terms of requirements (technical and commercial) of RFP.

UNI