Abstract
Abstract In rapidly ageing countries, increased life expectancies threaten the poor
and low-income workers. India is such a country. The number of people over sixty
will rise from the present 90 million to an expected 200 million by 2030. Giving
the changing demography, family structure and settlements the need for pension
products is increasing. This counts particular for women since they live longer and
have less opportunities to create a pension by lack of formal labour force participation.
This paper focuses on recent initiatives taken in India to analyze the
improvement of the pension coverage and its capacity to prevent women’s old age
poverty. How can the low pension coverage in India - in particular for lowincome
female workers in the informal economy -, be increased? The research
focuses on new pension schemes introduced by the Indian Government and new
micropension provisions by grass root non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
and microfinance institutes (MFIs). Results from the case-study show, that only
about 6 % of the clients of the Dhan Foundation (NGO) stated to have access to
pension. This is in line with the national statistics. The pilot initiative for a micro
pension program of the Dhan Foundation, show a clear positive result in willingness
to pay for micro pensions among their mostly female clientele To improve the
low coverage rate, micropensions could be of significant added value in the so
called ‘multi-pillar approach’ that recognizes the complementarities between the
state pension, the private sector and the civil society sector pension plans.
and low-income workers. India is such a country. The number of people over sixty
will rise from the present 90 million to an expected 200 million by 2030. Giving
the changing demography, family structure and settlements the need for pension
products is increasing. This counts particular for women since they live longer and
have less opportunities to create a pension by lack of formal labour force participation.
This paper focuses on recent initiatives taken in India to analyze the
improvement of the pension coverage and its capacity to prevent women’s old age
poverty. How can the low pension coverage in India - in particular for lowincome
female workers in the informal economy -, be increased? The research
focuses on new pension schemes introduced by the Indian Government and new
micropension provisions by grass root non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
and microfinance institutes (MFIs). Results from the case-study show, that only
about 6 % of the clients of the Dhan Foundation (NGO) stated to have access to
pension. This is in line with the national statistics. The pilot initiative for a micro
pension program of the Dhan Foundation, show a clear positive result in willingness
to pay for micro pensions among their mostly female clientele To improve the
low coverage rate, micropensions could be of significant added value in the so
called ‘multi-pillar approach’ that recognizes the complementarities between the
state pension, the private sector and the civil society sector pension plans.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 98-116 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | Ageing International |
| Volume | 2015 |
| Issue number | 40 |
| Early online date | 4 Nov 2014 |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |
