The circular issued by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) clarifies the charge structure applicable to Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRAs) under pension schemes. It aligns the Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC) for Tier II accounts with Tier I accounts, while exempting AMC for Tier II accounts with corpus up to ₹21,000 at the end of a quarter. Each pension scheme within a PRAN is to be treated as a separate account, attracting AMC individually. Dormant accounts—defined as those with no contribution for four consecutive quarters—will attract only 10% of the applicable AMC until reactivation, with implementation effective from 1 July 2026. AMC is to be determined based on the corpus at quarter-end. PRAN opening charges apply only at initial generation, with no charges for opening additional accounts within the same PRAN. Accounts with nil balance under APY and NPS-Lite will not attract AMC. Charges are to be collected quarterly.
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
Circulars No. PFRDA/2026/23/REG-CRA/01 | Dated: 29 April 2026
To
All Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRAs) and other Stakeholders
Subject: Clarification on Charge Structure of CRAs under the pension schemes regulated / administered by the PFRDA
1. With reference to Circular No. PFRDA/2025/06/REG-CRA/01 dated 15 September 2025 on Guidelines on Price Discovery Process for the charges of CRAs for the services rendered by them to the subscribers, the following may be noted.
2. Annual Maintenance Charge (AMC) under NPS:
a) The AMC for Tier II account shall be aligned with the AMC applicable to Tier I account under the respective sector (Government / Private Sector), except that no AMC shall be levied in respect of a Tier II account where the corpus in such account is up to 21,000, as at the end of a quarter.
b) Each pension scheme maintained within a PRAN shall be treated as a separate account (in case of both Tier I and Tier II), and each such account shall attract AMC separately, as applicable.
c) In respect of dormant account, the AMC shall be levied at 10% of the applicable AMC charged by CRA to such account (Tier I / Tier II).
Note:
i) A ‘dormant account’ shall mean an account where no contribution is received for four (4) consecutive quarters, and which is flagged as ‘dormant’ during the first week of the subsequent quarter in the CRA system. The reduced AMC shall apply for such subsequent quarter and shall continue till the time the account remains dormant. Upon receipt of contribution during a quarter, the account shall be flagged as ‘active’ during the first week of the subsequent quarter.
ii) CRAs shall ensure that the flagging of dormant/active account based on the above criteria is made effective from l’ July 2026.
d) For determining the applicable AMC, the corpus available in the account as at the end of the quarter shall be considered.
3. The PRAN Opening Charge shall apply only at the time of initial PRAN generation. For activation/opening of each account (Tier I/Tier II) within an existing PRAN, the charge shall be NIL.
4. AMC for accounts with NIL balance under APY & NPS-Lite shall be NIL.
5. The applicable charges shall be collected by CRAs at the end of each quarter by way of invoice raised on the concerned entity (in respect of accounts where the employer bears CRA charges), or through unit deduction from the subscriber’s account, as applicable.
6. All the other stipulations as contained in the referred Circular dated 15 September 2025 shall remain in full force and effect.
Yours Sincerely,
(General Manager)
