ICICI Prudential AMC awaits CBDT approval for retirement fund tax benefit

ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company on Monday said it is awaiting CBDT's approval for income tax benefit under its proposed retirement fund before launching it. As of now, the Reliance Capital AMC is the only company which has launched a retirement fund with tax benefits.

The government notified Reliance Retirement Fund as 'Pension Fund' under the Income Tax Act offering tax deductions for investments up to Rs 1.5 lakh last year.

HDFC MF, which has got the Central Board of Direct Taxes' nod for tax benefit for its retirement fund, is yet to launch the product. ICICI Prudential AMC MD and CEO Nimesh Shah said the proposed retirement fund will have a mix of both debt and equity investment.

About making products available for sale online, Shah said, "We are waiting for simplified e-KYC guidelines to come from Sebi to launch products through e-commerce. The problem is the number of distributors in the e-commerce space is less while KYC for the same is complicated in the present form. I'm bullish about Aadhar-based KYC."