The government may hike the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the pension sector to up to 100 per cent and a Bill in this regard is expected in the next Parliament session, according to sources.

This would align with the insurance sector where up to 100 per cent FDI is permitted.

Last year, Parliament approved a Bill to increase the FDI limit in the insurance sector from 74 per cent to 100 per cent.

Prior amendments of the Insurance Act, 1938 was done in 2015 following which the FDI ceiling increased from 49 per cent to 74 per cent.

Amendment to Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act, 2013 seeking to raise the FDI limit in the pension sector may come in the Monsoon Session or Winter Session depending on various approvals, sources said. Currently, the FDI in pension fund is capped at 49 per cent.

Besides, sources said the amendment Bill may contain separation of NPS Trust from the PFRDA. The powers, functions and duties of the NPS Trust, which are currently laid down under the PFRDA (National Pension System Trust) Regulations 2015, may come under a charitable trust or the Companies Act, they said.

The intent behind this is to keep NPS Trust separate from the pension regulator and managed competent board of 15 members. Out of this, the majority of members are likely to be from the government as they, including states, are the biggest contributor to the corpus.

The PFRDA was established for promoting and ensuring the orderly growth of the pension sector with sufficient powers over pension funds, the central recordkeeping agency and other intermediaries. It also safeguards the interest of members.

The National Pension System (NPS) was introduced by the Government of India to replace the defined benefit pension system. NPS was made mandatory for all new recruits to the central government service from January 1, 2004, (except the armed forces in the first stage) and has also been rolled out for all citizens with effect from May 1, 2009, on voluntary basis.

The government had made a conscious move to shift from the defined benefit, pay-as-you-go pension scheme to defined contribution pension scheme, NPS, due to rising and unsustainable pension bill. The transition aimed at freeing the limited resources of the government for more productive and socio-economic sectoral development.

Published on April 19, 2026

The world has lost over $50 billion worth of crude oil that has ​not been produced since the
Iran war began nearly 50 days ago ⁠and the aftershock of the
crisis will be felt for months and even years to come, according
to analysts and Reuters calculations.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday the Strait
of Hormuz was open following ‌a ceasefire accord agreed in
Lebanon, while U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed a
deal to end the Iran war would come “soon”, though the timing
remains ‌unclear.

Since the crisis began at the end of February, more than 500
million barrels ‌of ⁠crude and condensate have been knocked out of
the global market, according to ⁠Kpler data – the largest energy
supply disruption in modern history.

Put differently, 500 million barrels of oil lost to the
market is equivalent to:

* Curtailing aviation demand globally for 10 weeks; no road
travel by any vehicle globally for ​11 days; or no oil for ‌the
global economy for five days, said Iain Mowat, principal analyst
at Wood Mackenzie.

* Nearly a month of oil demand in the United States, or more
than a month of oil for all of Europe, according to Reuters
estimates.

* Roughly six years of fuel consumption ‌for the U.S.
military, based on annual usage of about 80 million barrels from
fiscal ​year 2021.

* Enough fuel to run the world’s international shipping
industry for around four months.

Key facts:

* Gulf Arab countries lost about 8 million barrels ⁠per day
of crude production in March, nearly equivalent to the combined
production of Exxon Mobil and Chevron, two of
the biggest oil companies in the world.

* Jet fuel exports from Saudi Arabia, ‌Qatar, the United Arab
Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman fell from about 19.6 million
barrels in February, to just 4.1 million barrels for March and
April so far combined, according to Kpler data. The loss in
exports would have been enough for around 20,000 round-trip
flights between New York’s JFK airport and London Heathrow,
according to Reuters estimates.

* With crude prices averaging around $100 a barrel since the
conflict began, those missing volumes represent roughly $50
billion in lost revenues, said ‌Johannes Rauball, a senior crude
analyst at Kpler. That equates to a 1% cut in Germany’s annual
gross domestic ​product, or roughly the entire GDP of smaller
countries such as Latvia or Estonia.

FULL RESTORATION COULD TAKE YEARS

Even as Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi said the ⁠Strait of
Hormuz was open, recovery of output and flows is expected to be
slow.

Global onshore crude ⁠inventories have fallen by about 45 million
barrels so far in April, according to Kpler. Since late March,
production outages have reached roughly 12 million bpd.

Heavier crude fields ‌in Kuwait and Iraq could take four to five
months to return to normal operating levels, extending stock
draws through the summer, Rauball said. Damage to refining
capacity and Qatar’s ​Ras Laffan LNG complex means full
restoration of regional energy infrastructure could take years.

Published on April 19, 2026