Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
Circular No. PFRDA/2023/09/SUP-ASP/01 Dated: Feb 22, 2023
To
All NPS Stake Holders
Subject: Mandatory upload of Withdrawal/ KYC documents to enable Parallel Processing of Exit and Annuity for the benefit of NPS Subscribers.
PFRDA in regulatory collaboration with IRDAI had simplified the process of buying Annuity wherein Annuity Service Providers (ASPs) shall use the NPS withdrawal form submitted at the time of exit by the Subscribers at nodal officers / POPs for issuing Annuity. ASPs are Life Insurance Companies regulated by IRDAI and empanelled with PFRDA to serve NPS Subscribers and secure their old age with regular stream of periodical income. The detailed guidelines and benefits of parallel processing provided vide our circular dt 14th Nov 2022.
2. The common proposal for Exit from NPS and for buying annuity from ASP facilitates parallel processing of Lump sum component and Annuity due to which the time taken by ASPs while issuing Annuity Policies is significantly reduced which result in faster Subscriber servicing and timely Annuity issuance.
3. In the interest of Subscribers and to benefit them with timely payment of annuity income, the upload of the documents shall be mandatory with effect from 1st April 2023. The Subscribers and the associated nodal officers/POPs/ Corporate need to ensure that the following documents uploaded in the respective CRA user interface and the documents thus uploaded are to be legible,
A. NPS Exit/ Withdrawal Form
B. Proof of Identity and Address as specified in the Withdrawal form
C. Bank account Proof
D. Copy of PRAN card
The process flow provided at the Annexure for ready reference of stakeholders.
All Nodal offices/ POPs/ Corporate can educate the associated Subscribers about the importance of upload of documents and perform suitable quality checks about the legibility of those documents.
Chief General Manager
Annexure
1. Steps for processing of Exit Request by Subscriber (Govt/Non Govt) – Paperless Mode A. Initiation of Online Exit request in CRA system by Subscriber:
- Subscriber will initiate online exit request by logging into CRA system.
- At the time of initiation of request, the relevant messages about e-Sign/OTP authentication, authorization of request by Nodal Office/POP etc. displayed to the Subscriber.
- During request initiation, details like address, Bank details, nominee details etc. auto-populated from NPS account.
- Subscriber will select fund allocation percentage for lump sum/annuity, annuity details, etc.
- Bank Account of the Subscriber (registered in CRA) will be verified through online Bank Account Verification (Penny drop facility).
- Subscriber needs to mandatorily upload KYC Documents (Identity & Address Proof), copy of PRAN card/ePRAN and Bank Proof at the time of submitting exit request.
- Scanned documents should be appropriate i.e. scanned images should be legible.
- Subscriber authorizes the request by using any one of the two following options to make the process paperless:
a. OTP Authentication – Distinct OTPs will be sent on Mobile Number and email ID of the Subscribers.
b. e-Sign – Subscribers will e-Sign the request using Aadhaar.
B. Authorization of Exit request by Nodal Office/POP:
On successful submission of online request by the Subscriber, the exit request along with scanned documents will be made available in the associated Nodal Office/POP CRA login.
- Nodal Office/POP will verify & authorize the request on the basis of scanned documents and no Physical Withdrawal Form/Documents is required to be submitted to Nodal Office/POP/CRA.
- Post authorization of request by Nodal Office/POP, the request will get executed in the CRA system.
- Lump sum share will be transferred to Subscriber’s Bank Account within stipulated timeline.
- The copy of withdrawal documents/KYC will be made available to ASPs (as applicable) for the purpose of issuing annuity.
- Physical Withdrawal Form and supporting documents are not required to be submitted by Nodal Office/POP to CRA in case of digital authentication of Exit request (using OTP Authentication/eSign) for storage purpose.
II. Online request without OTP/e Sign for Government Subscribers Only:
- Subscribers need to initiate online Exit request and can opt for physical form submission option.
- Further, the Subscriber needs to mandatorily upload KYC Documents (Identity & Address Proof), copy of PRAN card/ePRAN and Bank Proof at the time of submitting exit request.
- Scanned documents should be appropriate i.e. scanned images should be legible.
- The Subscribers can submit physical Withdrawal form and supporting documents to the associated Nodal Office to authorize and onward submission of these Withdrawal forms to CRA.
III. Steps for processing of Exit Request by Nodal Office/POP – Physical Mode
A. Initiation of Online Exit request in CRA system by the Nodal Office/POP:
- Subscriber will submit physical withdrawal form along with supporting documents to the associate Nodal Office/POP.
- Nodal Office/POP will initiate online exit request with one user-ID by logging into CRA system.
- During request initiation, details like address, Bank details, nominee details etc. will be auto-populated from NPS account of the Subscriber.
- Nodal Office/POP will select fund allocation percentage for lump sum/annuity, annuity details, etc. as opted by the Subscriber.
- Bank Account of the Subscriber (registered in CRA) verified through online Bank Account Verification (Penny drop facility).
- Nodal Office/POP needs to mandatorily upload KYC Documents (Identity & Address Proof), copy of PRAN card/ePRAN and Bank Proof at the time of submitting exit request. Scanned documents should be appropriate i.e. scanned images should be legible.
- After providing the required details and uploading of documents in CRA system, Nodal Office/POP has to submit the exit request of the Subscriber.
B. Authorization of Exit request by the Nodal Office/POP:
- Nodal Office/POP will login into CRA system with another user-ID.
- Nodal Office/POP will verify the exit request (details captured with one user-ID) of the Subscriber.
- Nodal Office/POP will authorize the exit request with checker user-ID if all the details are in order.
- Post authorization of request by Nodal Office/POP, the request will get executed in the CRA system. Accordingly, lump sum share will be transferred to Subscriber’s Bank Account within stipulated timeline.
- The copy of withdrawal documents/KYC will be made available to ASPs (as applicable) for the purpose of issuing annuity.
- Physical Withdrawal Form and supporting documents are not required to be submitted by Nodal Office/POP to CRA for storage purpose.
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