NPS subscribers are becoming less reactive to short-term market movements as they better understand the long investment horizon of retirement savings, Axis Pension Fund managing director and CEO Sumit Shukla said in an interview published on October 26, 2026. He also outlined plans to expand the firm's assets under management and called for clearer tax rules and stronger distribution.
Key Takeaways
- Shukla says subscribers increasingly view equity exposure through a long-term retirement lens rather than reacting to market turbulence.
- Axis Pension reports around Rs.21,000 crore in assets and aims to exceed Rs.50,000 crore over the next three years.
- The CEO identifies employee awareness, distribution and tax clarity as priorities for wider NPS adoption.
Table of Contents
- NPS subscribers focus on the retirement horizon
- Awareness and distribution remain adoption barriers
- Swasthya separates retirement investment from insurance
- Axis Pension sets a three-year asset target
- Conclusion
NPS subscribers focus on the retirement horizon
Shukla said customers have developed a better understanding of their investments and the role equities can play over longer periods. Axis Pension has not seen subscribers react to short-term market movements in a major way, he said.
That assessment reflects the CEO's experience with customers, rather than a system-wide measure of subscriber behaviour. His central point is that money earmarked for retirement is increasingly being treated differently from savings intended for near-term use.
He also warned that very large retirement corpus targets can discourage people from beginning to save. He called for a stronger focus on starting early and setting aside money specifically for retirement.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Swasthya governing guidelines | Issued by PFRDA on September 18, 2026. |
| Standard insurance entry and renewal ages | Entry from 18 to 70; renewal may continue through age 85, subject to applicable terms and law. |
| Standard family coverage | Subscriber, spouse and up to two dependent children. |
| Healthcare partial withdrawals | Up to 25% of contributions, subject to the guidelines, with no minimum waiting period or limit on the number of withdrawals. |
Awareness and distribution remain adoption barriers
Despite the tax benefit available for employer contributions under the new tax regime, Shukla said corporate NPS adoption remains constrained by awareness and distribution. Human resources teams need to explain the benefits and help employees enrol, he said; awareness alone may not translate into participation without effective customer outreach.
He said regulatory changes to distributor economics could take a couple of years to show their effect. However, he argued that NPS should retain its low-cost proposition rather than substantially increase fees or distributor payouts.
On policy, Shukla sought clearer statutory treatment of Tier-II withdrawals and a wider reach for the Rs.50,000 tax deduction, including for people without employer-sponsored retirement plans. These are requests for change, not announced tax measures. He also called for better awareness of government employees' existing ability to choose a pension fund manager.
Swasthya separates retirement investment from insurance
Shukla said Axis Pension's recently launched full-scale NPS Swasthya offering simplifies the pilot arrangement by allowing the health insurance top-up premium to be paid directly to the insurer, with at least Rs.1,000 invested towards the pension corpus. Renewal premiums can be funded from that corpus.
PFRDA's NPS Swasthya scheme framework explains that the investment account and the mandatory separate super top-up health insurance policy are legally and operationally distinct. The Rs.1,000 investment is therefore not the total initial payment: the first-year insurance premium and applicable charges must also be covered.
The regulator's framework also makes clear that investment returns are market-linked and not guaranteed. Insurance protection remains subject to the policy's deductible, exclusions, waiting periods and other terms.
Axis Pension sets a three-year asset target
Shukla said Axis Pension manages around Rs.21,000 crore in assets and serves more than 650,000 customers. Its goal is to exceed Rs.50,000 crore in assets under management over the next three years; that figure is a management target, not an achieved result.
The firm plans to use the Axis ecosystem and the bank's distribution network to expand while remaining profitable. Shukla said its investment approach would remain risk-conscious, long-term and aligned with regulatory and board policies.
Conclusion
Axis Pension's stated next step is to expand its subscriber base and assets through the Axis distribution network. Its three-year asset target remains a goal, while Shukla's requests for tax clarity and broader incentives remain policy proposals.
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