The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) issued a circular on September 12, 2025, to revise the provisions for the Corporate Model of the National Pension System (NPS). This new circular supersedes a previous one from November 14, 2018. The updated guidelines clarify that either the employer or the employee can select the Pension Fund and Asset Allocation, but whoever makes the choice must select both. If the employer makes this choice on behalf of the employee, the employee will have the option to change these selections after one year. The circular also introduces a revised process for corporate authorization of employee NPS applications. Companies can now authorize applications individually or in bulk on a corporate letterhead. For online authorization, a company must submit an application to the Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA), which will create a user ID and login for the company to facilitate this process. These changes are effective immediately for all corporate entities.
PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Circular No.: PFRDA/2025/07/PDES/01 | Dated: September 12, 2025
To,
All Stakeholders under NPS
Sir/Madam,
Subject: Corporate Model NPS: Revision in the provisions for exercising PF and investment choices & Bulk Authorization of employees’ NPS application by corporates
This is in supersession of Circular No. PFRDA/2018/53/P&D/2 dated 14th November 2018.
2. Under the Corporate Model of NPS, the following modifications in respect of exercise of choice and authorisation of employees’ NPS application by corporate/employer are being implemented:
(a). Exercise of choice of Pension Fund and of Asset Allocation by Employer/Corporate and Employee/Subscriber:
(i) Either the Employer/Corporate OR Employee/Subscriber will have choice of selecting the Pension Fund and Asset Allocation. However, whoever exercises the choice should select both the Pension Fund & Asset Allocation.
(ii) If the Employer/Corporate exercises choice of Pension Fund and Asset Allocation on behalf of Employee/Subscriber, then such Employee/Subscriber will have the option to revise the choices after 1 (one) year (i.e 365 days).
(b). Bulk authorisation of NPS applications of underlying employees by the employer (corporate) through physical and online mode:
(i) Corporate/Employer will have the option to authorise the NPS applications of its employees individually (in the application form itself) or separately on the corporate letterhead for bulk authorisation for which CRA has to be intimated in advance for enabling this option in the CRA system.
(ii) Corporate/Employer willing to authorise online the employment details of employee/applicant joining NPS should submit an application on its letterhead to CRA and CRA will create a user id and login for such corporate for enabling online authorisation of employees’ NPS applications.
3. The Circular is applicable to all Corporate entities with immediate effect.
Yours sincerely,
(Sumit kumar)
Chief General Manager
