Wednesday, April 30, 2014

NPS funds for government workers gave worst ever returns in 2013-14

NPS funds for government workers gave worst ever returns in 2013-14

NEW DELHI: Aggressive equity investors in the NPS made hay in 2013-14 but the funds for Government workers churned out their worst ever performance during the year. The Central government schemes of the NPS gave average SIP returns of 5.37% while State government employees had to be content with 4.96%. These calculations are based on SIP returns on monthly contributions from April 2013 till March 2014. 


More than 28 lakh central and state government employees who joined service after 1 January 2004 have to compulsorily invest in the NPS. Their retirement savings account for 93% of the total NPS corpus of roughly Rs 45,000 crore.


On the other hand, private sector NPS investors who put the maximum 50% in equities earned an average 13.7% during 2013-14. Balanced investors who split the corpus equally between stocks, corporate bonds and gilts made 10.64%. But ultra-safe investors who abstained from equities and binged on government bonds earned only 3.2% on average. Private sector workers account for only Rs 2,265 crore, or 5% of the total NPS corpus.

NPS votaries have often argued that stock investments give the scheme a distinct advantage over the 100% debt-based EPF. However, the pension funds managing the savings of Government workers tend to shy from stocks. As on 30 November 2013, the Central Government scheme of SBI Pension Fund had only 7.15% of its corpus in stocks while the fund managed by UTI Retirement Solutions invested only 7.72% in equities.

As the returns of the funds for the general public show, a higher allocation to stocks would have proved beneficial, because the Nifty rose 18.4% during 2013-14. "Young Government workers should ask the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority why they are being forced to invest in schemes that put only 6-7% in equities," says Gautam Bharadwaj, co-founder and Managing Director of Invest India Micro Pension Services.

The disappointing performance of the funds for Central and State Government workers comes a year after the schemes posted spectacular double-digit returns in 2012-13. The poor show during 2013-14 has dragged down the long-term SIP returns of these funds to below 8%.

Experts say the unexpected downturn in Government bonds is to blame for the poor showing by the NPS funds. Bond yields rose sharply in July 2013, resulting in significant marked-to-market losses on the long-term bonds in the portfolios of these funds. The SBI Pension Fund, which has been the worst performer with 4.12% (Central Govt) and 3.93% (State Govt), also had to contend with poorly chosen bonds that turned NPAs. A senior official of SBI Pension Fund says the NPAs constitute only a minuscule fraction of the total corpus. He contends that the dip in the NAVs is temporary and the funds will do well when interest rates decline. "In any case, we intend to hold the Government bonds till maturity so the losses will get recouped," he told Economic Times.

Worst ever performance by NPS funds

 Year
Central Govt workers 
 State Govt workers
 2010-11
 6.91%
 7.91%
 2011-12
 7.28%
 8.04%
2012-13
 11.24%
 11.82%
2013-14
 5.37%
 4.95%
 Since launch
 7.55%
 7.87%

Figures are average SIP returns of the three pension funds that manage the Govt workers retirement savings. 

Source:Economic times

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kerala cicle p.a question papers


kerala cicle  p.a question papers













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Solved PA SA Exam 2014 Question Paper - Delhi Circle
1) Which one of the following minerals is contained in the Monazite sand of Kerala?
(A) Uranium 
(B) Thorium
(C) Copper
(D) Petroleum
 Ans. (B) Thorium

2) The largest sugarcane producing country in the world is:
(A) India
(B) Brazil
(C) China
(D) USA
 Ans. (B) Brazil

3) This refers the amount that the commercial banks require to maintain in the form of gold or government approved securities before providing credit to customers:
(A) Statutory Liquidity Ratio
(B) Cash reserve ratio
(C) Teverse Repo Rate
(D) Bank Rate
 Ans. (A) Statutory Liquidity Ratio

4) .......... is NOT a Central Government Tax.
(A) Income Tax
(B) Custom Tax
(C) Entertainment Tax
(D) Service Tax
 Ans. (C) Entertainment Tax

5) How many countries delegates will visit India to have first hand experience of Lok Sabha Election 2014 under the 'Election Visitors Programme 2014' launched by election commission of India:
(A) 20
(B) 50
(C) 100
(D) None of these
 Ans. (B) 50

6) Largest Solar Power plant of India was recently launched in the state of:
(A) Rajasthan
(B) Madhya Pradesh
(C) Uttar Pradesh
(D) None of these
 Ans. (B) Madhya Pradesh

7) 2014 Ranji Trophy was won by:
(A) Uttar Pradesh
(B) Maharashtra
(C) Karnataka
(D) West Bengal
 Ans. (C) Karnataka

8) International Mother Earth Day was observed across the world on:
(A) 20th April, 2014
(B) 21st April, 2014
(C) 22nd April 2014
(D) 24th April 2014
 Ans. (C) 22nd April 2014

9) Who is the leader of house presently in Rajya Sabha:
(A) Arun Jaitley
(B) Manmohan Singh
(C) Kariya Munda
(D) P J Kurien
 Ans. (B) Manmohan Singh

10) In an economy, the sectors are classified into public and private on the basis of
(A) Employment Conditions
(B) Nature of economic activities
(C) Ownership of enterprises
(D) Use of raw materials
 Ans. (C) Ownership of enterprises
11) Who amongst the following is not a Lawn Tennis Player
(A) Rafael Nadal
(B) Roger Federer
(C) Tiger Woods
(D) Serena Williams
 Ans. (C) Tiger Woods

12) The three R's which can help us to conserve natural resource for long term us are?
(A) Recycle, Regenerate, Reuse
(B) Reduce, Regenerate, Reuse
(C) Reduce, Reuse, Redistribute
(D) Reduce, Recycle, Reuse
 Ans. (D) Reduce, Recycle, Reuse

13) The river water is polluted with acidic wastes if ph of water is:
(A) Below 7
(B) Above 7
(C) Equal to 7
(D) Any of these
 Ans. (A) Below 7

14) How many ergs are there in 1 joule:
(A) 10^2
(B) 10^4
(C) 10^6
(D) 10^7
 Ans. (D) 10^7

15) President of International Olympic Committee:
(A) Barack Obama
(B) Jacques Rogge
(C) Thomas Bach
(D) None of these
 Ans. (C) Thomas Bach

16) Which bone is the largest bone in human body
(A) Fermur
(B) Humerus
(D) Tibia
(D) Radius
 Ans. (A) Fermur

17) Who is responsible to collect the service tax?
(A) Income Tax Department
(B) Postal Department
(C) Central Excise Department
(D) Comercial Tax Department of the State/Union Teritory
 Ans. (C) Central Excise Department

18) Surface Tension has the units of:
(A) Newton/m^2
(B) Newton/m^3
(C) Newton-m
(D) Newton/m
 Ans. (D) Newton/m

Top of Form
In  which  discipline   united  state   holds   maximum  number  of  Nobel  prize   awards 
 science   physics   chemistry   Medicine-  Physiology
September   28  is  observed  as  

world  vegetarian  day     united   nations  day    world  rabies  day   world  television  day 

who  said  these  words  

when  i  was  leper’s  wounds   ,  i  feel  i  am  using    the  lord  himself   . Touch  a  leper   touch   him  with  love 

Mother  Teresa    mother  George   Telkania
Junk  e-mail  is  also  called  
spoof   spool  sniffer-script   spam 

which  of  the  following    cups/trophies   is  associated  with  football

Davis  Cup         Deodhar  trophy           champions  trophy              santhosh  trophy 

with  whose   permission  did  the  English   set  up  their   first  factory   at  sutrat 

Akbar   Jahangir              Shahjahan                       Aurangazeb 
Which  one  of  the  following    is  the  longest    National -  Highway  in  India 

NH 2   NH    7   NH  8    NH  31

Blue  color    of  the  sky  is  consequence  of  

reflection    refraction   scattering  dispersion 

which  is  the  best  known  bird  sanctuary  in  Hariyana 

sultanpur   Bhartpur   Rajaji  sariska 

Prime  Minister  Manmohan  singh  has  declared   decade  2010-2020 as 
Decade  of  innovation    Decade  of  Science     Decade  of  Poetry  Decade  of  Children 
What  is  the  function  of  Keyboard    in  computer 

print    Input   type       in between  input  and   output 

which  Indian  film  was  nominated  as  Oscar 

Jurassic  Park                Alma  Aras            Elizabeth      Lgaan
Navy  day  is  observed  on 

Dec  4   Oct  28    Nov  7             Nov  14

Who  is  the  author  of  the  book  Naked  Triangle   

RK  Narayan    Khushwant  singh    Balwant  Gargi   Amrit  Pritam 

Which  one  of  the  following    connects   the  different  parts  of  a  computer  which  usually made  of  wires 
URLs               Modem                 Buses              CPUs


with  which  game  does  santhosh  trophy  associated 
Tennis   Cricket   national  Football    Golf 


PA/SA Exam Solved Questions/Answer Key 2014: Odisha Circle (General Awareness Section)


1) Which of the following award is associated with Agriculture?
(A) Bourlog Award
(B) Shati Swaroop Bhatnagar
(C) Arjun Award
(D) Vyas Samman
Ans. (A) Bourlog Award

2) February 14 is observed as-
(A) World Vegetarian Day
(B) United Nations Day for South South Cooperation
(C) Valentines Day
(D) United Nations Day, recognized by the UN
Ans. (C) Valentines Day

3) The book 'Discover of India' is written by:
(A) Mahatma Gandhi
(B) Subhash Chandra Bose
(C) Jawaharlal Nehru
(D) Sastri
Ans. (C) Jawaharlal Nehru

4) A person who uses his/her experience to gain access to other people's computer to get information illegally or do damage is called as
(A) Spammer
(B) Programmer
(C) Hacker
(D) Instant Messenger
Ans. (C) Hacker

5) How many players are there in a water polo team?
(A) 4
(B) 5
(C) 6
(D) 7
Ans. (D) 7

6) At the time when Nadir Shah attacked Delhi, the Mughal Emperor was
(A) Ahmad Shah
(B) Bahadur Shah
(C) Muhammad Shah
(D) Shah Alam II
Ans. (C) Muhammad Shah

7) Arrange the following states in the increasing order of Population
1. Andhra Pradesh 2. West Bengal 3. Bihar 4. UP
(A) 1,2,3,4
(B) 1,2,4,3
(C) 2,1,3,4
(D) 2,1,4,3
Ans. (A) 1,2,3,4

8) To which one of the following process is the term CMYK related?
(A) Railway Signaling
(B) Navigation
(C) Offset Printing
(D) Electronic Voting
Ans. (C) Offset Printing

9) In which year was the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) founded?
(A) 1967
(B) 1969
(C) 1970
(D) 1974
Ans. (B) 1969

10) Which of the following awards was conferred on Mrs. Kiran Bedi?
(A) Saraswati
(B) Golden Globe
(C) Magsaysay
(D) Rani Lakshmi
Ans. (C) Magsaysay


11) The United Nations declared 2006 as the International Year of
(A)Rice
(B)World Population
(C)Communication
(D)Elderly Persons
Ans. (A)Rice

12) Who has written the book "War and Peace"?
(A)Khushwant Singh b
(B)Mikhail Solokhov
(C)Count Leo Tolstoy
(D)Saul Bellow
Ans. (C)Count Leo Tolstoy

13) What is the function of the I/O units of a computer system?
(A)To initialize the process of recovery of data of the crashed computer
(B)To exchange the information of windows with CPU
(C)To reset or restart the computer when it is booted
(D)To exchange the information of computer with the outside world
Ans. (D)To exchange the information of computer with the outside world

14)  India won its first Olympic hockey gold in ................ ?
(A)1928
(B)1932
(C)1936
(D)1948
Ans. (A)1928

15) Who among the following was the author of Tarikh-i-Alai, which contains Sultan Alauddin Khiliji ?
(A)Ziauddin Barani
(B)Shams Siraj Afif
(C)Amir Khusrau
(D)Yahiya-bin-Ahmed
Ans. (C)Amir Khusrau

16) Which of the following states has the maximum total forest cover in India?
(A)Arunachal Pradesh
(B)Assam
(C)Madhya Pradesh
(D)Karnataka
Ans. (C)Madhya Pradesh

17) The normal temperature of human body?
(A)37 degree Celsius
(B)37 degree Ferenhite
(C)104 degree Ferhenhite
(D)36.4 degree Celsius
Ans. (A)37 degree Celsius

18) The Lakshadweep Islands are situated in which ocean
(A)Indian Ocean
(B)Arbian Ocean
(C)Bay of Bangle
(C)None of these
Ans. (B)Arbian Ocean

19) Which day is International Human Right Day?
(A)10th December
(B)24th October
(C)25th November
(D)None of these
Ans. (A)10th December

20) Output devices make it possible to
(A)view and print a data
(B)Scan a data
(C)Input a data
(D)Sending a data
Ans. (A)view and print a data

21) Who is th author of the book "New Deminsions of India's Foreign Policy" ?
(A)AB Vajpayee
(B)Jaswant Singh
(C)PC Alexander
(D)Yashwant Sinha
Ans. (A)AB Vajpayee

22) The Olympic Games in 2016 will be held in
(A)London
(B)America
(C)Holland
(D)Brazil
Ans.(D)Brazil

23) Who amongst the following Englishmen, first translated "Bhagvad-Gita" into English
(A)William jones
(B)Charles Wilkins
(C)Alexander Cunningham
(D)John Marshall
Ans. (D)John Marshall

24) Effect of pollution is most marked on
(A)natural balance of nature
(B)natural flora of place
(C)natural geochemical cycles
(D)All of these
Ans. (B)natural flora of place

25) The first satellite launched by India was called
(A)Aryabhatta
(B)Bhaskara I
(C)Bhaskara II
(D)Rohini

Ans. (A)Aryabhatta