‘Less exciting long-term savings crucial for financial security in old age’: CEA encourages pension investment

Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran believes more Indians must shift investment behaviour from short-term trading to long-term savings, noting that pension assets are crucial for financial security in old age, PTI reported.

It added that of the ₹18 lakh crore corpus under the National Pension System (NPS) as of September, around 47% is invested in government securities (G-Secs), 28% in equity, and 21% in corporate debt.

“The Indian saver has shown a willingness to accept market risk or so we would like to believe. What the saver has not yet done at scale is to commit savings for a longer tenure. That is a different decision because in general Indians do not optimise for the long term,” ANI quoted Nageswaran saying. It added that he noted that behaviour shift would require trust in institutions, accessible financial information and products that do not require savers to become financial experts.

Significant scope for expansion

Nageswarana noted that Economic Survey data showed the share of equity and mutual funds in annual household savings rose from about 2% in FY12 to around 15% in FY25, while the share of bank deposits fell from over 58% to about 35%.

Monthly systematic investment plan (SIP) flows also rose from under ₹4,000 crore in FY17 to over ₹28,000 crore in the first eight months of FY26. However, the share of pension and insurance assets in household savings remained unchanged between FY19 and FY24.

Nageswaran said India's total pension assets were about 17% of GDP, against at least 80% in OECD peer countries, indicating significant scope for expansion.

‘Less exciting’ but peace of mind post-retirement

Long-term investing provides durable and sustainable financial security and peace of mind post-retirement, he said. Nageswaran was speaking virtually at a NPS Diwas event in Delhi, where he called on the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), financial intermediaries and households to work together to encourage “less exciting” long-term investing, as per the PTI report.

He added that the PFRDA is working on retirement income schemes with assured payout so retired individuals over 60 have the option to convert their accumulated corpus into steady income that lasts for your lifetime and keeps pace with inflation.

Choice of investment — Concept of ‘Shreya vs Preya’

Nageswaran shared the lesson of Lord Yama's in the Katha Upanishad which describes choosing between the enduring good ‘Shreya’ and the fleeting comfort ‘Preya’, comparing it to long vs short term investing.

“A contribution to a pension account is a small, repeated choice of Shreya over trading in futures and options at very narrow frequencies and short frequencies. It's equally important for the average household and the head of those households to understand that while short-term trading may be exciting, it is the long-term savings in long-duration assets that provides for the family's health and well-being when he or she stops earning,” he stated.

Pension fund managers have responsibility

Also speaking at the event, Financial Services Secretary Sanjay Lohiya said pension fund managers need to be mindful of the responsibility with which they need to manage the pension corpus of subscribers.

“It's one thing to manage a debt fund or a mutual fund and another thing to manage a pension fund. In a normal investment in a mutual fund or a share market or even a debt fund, their horizon is hardly a few years. So, I just would like to request all the pension fund managers to just keep in mind, it should not be treated as another investment scheme you are handling and it also puts a lot of responsibility on PFRDA and the people who oversee these funds that they somehow are able to keep that trust which people have put in them,” Lohiya said.

He added that the aim is for India's pension corpus to grow and become patient capital for infrastructure building — similar to foreign pension funds. “...The government is hopeful ... slowly our own pension funds will be able to provide patient capital,” Lohiya added.

(With inputs from Agencies)