New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS): A national pension regulator on Wednesday said that it is expecting a major boost in terms of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) subscribers in 2017-18.

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Chairman Hemant Contractor said this at a conference here.

"We are expecting a major boost in the number of NPS subscribers in the private sector because of the 2017-18 Budget announcement by (Finance Minister) Arun Jaitley to allow partial withdrawal of 25 per cent," Contractor told reporters.

"... it has been proposed to provide exemption on partial withdrawals not exceeding 25 per cent of the employee's contribution in accordance with the terms and conditions specified under the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013," the Finance Ministry said earlier.

The benefit would be effective on partial withdrawals made after April 1.

The NPS is a voluntary contribution retirement scheme. It enables systematic savings during the subscriber's working life and aims to find a sustainable solution to provide enough retirement income to every Indian citizen.

Contractor said that after an earlier Budget announcement of additional deduction of Rs 50,000 for contribution to the NPS, the number of private subscribers had seen a 60 per cent increase in 2015-16.