The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), through Circular dated 27 February 2026, has issued revised operational guidelines for Points of Presence (PoPs-NPS) undertaking activities under the National Pension System, including NPS Vatsalya. Issued under Section 14 of the PFRDA Act, 2013 read with the PoP Regulations, 2018, the guidelines will be effective from 1 April 2026 and supersede earlier instructions. They prescribe detailed norms on service standards, subscriber on-boarding, contribution management, reporting, grievance redressal, cyber security, risk mitigation, and compliance oversight. PoPs must adhere to defined Turn Around Times (TATs), compensate subscribers for delays or operational lapses, and ensure robust AML/CFT controls. Strict procedures are laid down for collection accounts, reporting to the Authority, fraud prevention, IT infrastructure, and confidentiality. PoPs must appoint designated compliance officials, submit exception and cyber security reports, and display service and grievance details publicly. The Authority retains the power to modify these guidelines as required.
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
Circular no. PFRDA/2026/11/SUP-POP/03 | Dated: 27th February, 2026
To,
All Points of Presence (PoPs-NPS)
Subject: Guidelines for Operational activities – to be followed by Point of Presence (PoPs) performing activities of National Pension System (NPS) including NPS Vatsalya.
In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 14 of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 read with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 (as amended) more particularly Regulation 41 and 42, thereof, following Guidelines are being issued. The Guidelines shall be applicable to categories of Point of Presence registered under Regulation 3(1) of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and performing activities of NPS. The guidelines may be modified by the Authority from time to time depending upon the service requirements. The guidelines shall be effective from April 01, 2026 and shall supersede the existing guidelines. The first reporting under these guidelines shall be applicable from Half-Year ending on September 2026 onwards.
The detailed guidelines covering following points are enclosed along with this circular:
A. Service Standards
B. Standard Operating Procedures
C. Subscriber On-boarding Procedure
D. Contribution Management Procedure
E. Reports and Disclosures
F. Redressal of Grievances
G. Other Functions
All entities are advised to update their system and processes to follow the operational guidelines issued by the Authority.
(Ashish Kumar)
(Chief General manager)
GUIDELINES ISSUED UNDER SECTION 14 OF THE PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, ACT, 2013 READ WITH THE PENSON FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (POINT OF PRESENCE) REGULATIONS 2018 (AS AMENDED) IN RESPECT OF THE POINT OF PRESENCE REGISTERED UNDER THE REGULATION 3(1)(a) and 3(1)(c) THEREOF
In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 14 of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 read with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 (as amended) more particularly Regulation 15, following Guidelines are being issued. The Guidelines shall be applicable to Point of Presence registered under Regulation 3(1)(a) and 3(1)(c) of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and amendments thereof for all activities under NPS / any other scheme regulated or administered by the Authority.
Regulation 3(1)(a) and 3(1)(c)- National Pension System (NPS) and any other scheme regulated or administered by Authority. (Hereinafter referred in these Guidelines as ‘PoP-NPS’ for convenience of reference).
These guidelines shall be effective from April 01, 2026 and shall supersede the existing guidelines. Notwithstanding such supersession, anything done or any action taken under or in terms of the said guidelines, shall be deemed to be valid and have effect, for the period, when such guidelines was in force and remains applicable. The present guidelines may be modified by the Authority from time to time depending upon the service requirements/amendments in the Regulations, if any.
PoPs shall display these guidelines on its website/intranet.
A. Service Standards
1. PoP-NPS shall follow the ‘Service Standards’ for all activities under NPS as specified in the Schedule of these guidelines for providing the services to subscribers/prospects of NPS in mode and manner specified therein.
2. PoP-NPS shall provide subsequent services such as upload of SCF in CRA system and other services like shifting of PoP-NPS, change in personal details of the subscriber, processing of death claims, processing of exit/withdrawal request, follow up on initiation of exit request under NPS by the subscriber etc., in accordance with Schedule of guidelines.
3. PoP-NPS shall be liable to compensate the affected subscribers in the event of any delay or violation in the Service Standards as specified in the Schedule. Besides the delay in TAT for various activities as specified in the Schedule, in case of any loss suffered by subscribers due to any other operational lapse, PoP shall make good the loss to the subscribers. Such compensation as specified in the Schedule shall be paid to the affected subscribers suo moto, without waiting for a complaint/grievance or claim from the subscriber.
[4] PoP-NPS shall resolve the grievances of the subscribers in accordance with Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Redressal of Subscriber Grievance) Regulations, 2015 and amendments thereof.
[5] PoP-NPS shall consider following points for association with any Pension agent:
i. The terms and conditions of operations between PoP and Pension agent shall be mutually agreed upon and shall be in accordance with Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and subsequent amendments thereof and any other instructions issued by the Authority from time to time.
ii. PoP-NPS shall ensure flow of information from Pension agent to PoP in such a way that all Turn Around Times (TATs) as specified under service level standards in the Schedule are adhered to, without any delay or deviation
iii. PoP-NPS shall ensure that the Pension agent should contact or communicate only with associated PoP on all matters and any direct communications with the Authority shall not be entertained.
iv. PoP-NPS shall compile and submit the specified MIS reports to the Authority on behalf of its pension agent. Pension agent shall not directly submit any MIS report / information to the Authority.
[6] The terms and conditions of operations between PoP-(NPS) and Retirement Advisers (herein after referred in these Guidelines as ‘RAs’ for convenience of reference) shall be mutually agreed upon and the same shall be guided by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Retirement Adviser) Regulations, 2016, and amendments thereof and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018, and amendments thereof.
[7] PoP-NPS shall make available all NPS related forms, as specified by the Authority from time to time, to the subscribers.
[8] PoP-NPS shall not transfer or assign any of its functions.
Notwithstanding the above, the PoP-NPS may engage pension agents for a limited function of distribution of pension schemes as specified in the regulations and perform its activities in accordance with Schedule-IV of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and amendments thereof. In case of irregularities occurring in PoP related activities the compliance officer shall immediately and independently report any deviation or non-compliance observed by such officer, to the Authority in accordance with regulation 21(2) including any other instructions issued by the Authority from time to time.
[9] PoP-NPS shall adhere to the PFRDA Act 2013, rules, regulations, circulars, guidelines, directions, advisories and instructions issued by the Authority from time to time.
B. Standard Operating Procedures
PoP-NPS shall adhere to the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), for interfacing with Central Record Keeping Agencies (CRAs), Trustee Bank (TB) and other intermediaries, as required by the CRAs and/or the Authority for operational activities with respect to NPS.
C. Subscriber On-boarding Procedure
PoP-NPS shall follow the service requirements for on-boarding of subscriber under NPS as specified in the Schedule.
D. Contribution Management Procedure
PoP-NPS shall collect and process the contributions as per the service requirement specified in the Schedule. PoP-NPS shall also comply with the following procedures and parameters to ensure transparency, uniformity and risk minimization:
[1] NPS contribution collection process
i. PoP-NPS shall ensure that credible collection infrastructure is available for its underlying subscribers.
ii. PoP-NPS shall open or have a collection account in the name of “Name of the PoP or its abbreviation – Collection Account – Name of pension scheme or its abbreviation – National Pension System Trust or its abbreviation” or as specified under Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and amendments thereof from time to time.
iii. As an illustration, if State Bank of India is registered with the Authority for performing activities of NPS, the collection account may be in the name of “SBI-Collection Account – NPS – NPS Trust”. The collection account shall be a non-withdrawable account with an option to transfer the funds to NPS Trust’s account maintained with Trustee Bank. In exceptional cases such as wrong entries, unidentified entries or amount not pertaining to subscriber contribution, it may be credited to any other account as may be specified by the Authority through guidelines/circulars and any other instructions issued by the Authority from time to time. The authority to transfer the collection amount will reside with the PoP-NPS. PoP -NPS shall also record reasons for such transfers in writing and the same is subject to audit and inspection.
iv. PoP-NPS may have a collection account with itself if it is a banking entity or with any scheduled commercial bank if it is a non-banking entity.
v. PoP-NPS shall ensure Permanent Account Number (PAN) of the subscribers for all cash transactions exceeding Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) or as prescribed under Rule 114B of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 is obtained at the time of collecting contributions. In case NPS account is opened through form 60 and PAN of the subscriber is not captured in the CRA system then it must be updated in the CRA system.
vi. PoP-NPS shall ensure that pension agents / RAs are not authorized to collect the contribution in cash. Further PoP-NPS shall ensure that the list of RAs/ Pension Agents, who are authorized to collect only non-cash contribution, must be made publicly available.
vii. PoP-NPS shall ensure that the acknowledgement in the form of slip / receipt with unique number (preferably electronic receipt) / intimation is being provided to the subscribers by Service Provider Branches /pension agents/RAs.
[2] Pooling of contribution in the collection account
i. PoP-NPS shall ensure that no contribution is collected without the details of the subscriber(s).
ii. PoP-NPS shall ensure the cash/non-cash instrument collected shall be deposited during the bank working hours within TATs specified under Schedule.
iii. NBFC PoPs-NPS to ensure that contributions collected from NPS subscribers to be transferred to Trustee Bank on T day (same day) basis.
iv. The PoP NPS shall ensure to get the fees and charges earned from the NPS related transaction to a separate account of POP (other than the collection account) which shall be remitted from the CRAs through the modes of recovery of charges as permitted by the Authority from time to time; and shall maintain the trails of such transfer for audit and inspection. Further, necessary IT arrangements shall be made by PoP for the same.
v. PoP-NPS shall ensure that no funds are lying un-identified/un-reconciled in the NPS Collection account maintained by the PoP and details of all contributions credited into the NPS Collection account should be uploaded into the CRA system and funds remitted to the Trustee Bank as per the timelines specified in the Schedule
vi. PoP-NPS shall display the complete fee/charge structure under NPS on their website.
vii. PoP-NPS shall ensure the compliance on directions/circulars issued by the Authority from time to time in respect of processing of contributions received from payment gateway service provider for digital transaction and further shall ensure the display of settlement time and charges of Payment Gateway Service Providers (PGSPs) for digital transaction at the time of initiating payment of NPS contributions by the subscriber on the website in compliance with the relevant directions/ guidelines/ advisories / any other instructions issued by the Authority from time to time.
[3] Risk and Fraud Mitigation Measures
i. PoP-NPS shall have robust and efficient mechanisms for the identification, assessment, quantification, control, mitigation and monitoring of the risks associated with all the activities related to NPS.
ii. PoP-NPS shall have necessary control to avert the risk relating to Anti Money Laundering (AML) or Combating Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and shall be guided by the circulars, guidelines, directions, advisories etc. issued by the Authority from time to time.
iii. PoP-NPS shall monitor cash collection procedure and functioning of the NPS collection account on daily basis.
iv. PoP-NPS shall ensure adequate vigilance and due diligence in subscriber registration, the entire fund collection process, and at the time of exit, and shall receive withdrawal/exit requests along with all prescribed documents and KYC records.
v. The compliance officer of the PoP-NPS shall regularly review internally the compliance of the Act, rules and regulations, notifications, circulars, guidelines, directions, etc. issued by the Authority from time to time on periodic basis or more frequently, if required, and record of the same shall be maintained. Any deviations in this regard shall be unconditionally reported to the Authority.
vi. PoP-NPS shall take all measures necessary for prevention of all forms of fraud and develop and follow PFRDA’s (Framework for Prevention and Reporting of Fraud Under NPS Architecture) Guidelines and amendments thereof.
vii. PoP-NPS shall lay down internal controls to be followed and ensure that such controls are adequate and operating effectively; and
viii. PoP-NPS shall make provision for indemnifying the subscriber for any loss on account of fraud or negligence on the part of the point of presence or its pension agents, which has been established.
E. Reports and Disclosures
[1] PoP-NPS shall submit duly checked and verified reports to Supervision department – PoP, PFRDA through the mode(s) as specified by the Authority from time to time:
(i) The Exception Report on all activities (as per Annexure 1) shall be submitted within 30 (thirty) days from the end of the respective reporting period. The reporting frequency will be based on the PoP’s subscriber base as on the last Financial Year, as under (Such a list of PoPs, based on their subscriber base, shall also be made available on PFRDA’s website):
a. PoPs-NPS with subscriber base of 10,000 and above – to submit the Exception Report on a Half-Yearly basis.
b. PoPs-NPS with subscriber base of less than 10,000 – to submit the Exception Report on Annual basis.
Note: Notwithstanding the above periodic reporting, compliance officer of the PoP shall report any major deviation/breach to the Authority on occurrence basis.
(ii) Cyber Security Certificate in accordance with applicable circular on [Annual Cyber Security Compliance certificate (as per Annexure 2.1 & 2.2 respectively for Category I* & Category II** PoP-NPS)] within 30 (thirty) days from the end of the Financial Year. Report on cyber-attacks incident pertaining to NPS activities, if any are to be submitted in terms of the Information and Cybersecurity Policy of PFRDA.
Note: Category I* – consisting of Pension Funds that are registered as Point of Presence (PoPs) Category II** – consisting of Point of Presence (PoPs) other than those falling under Category I
2. The details of NPS related activities undertaken by pension agents/RAs shall also be included by the PoP in the reports mentioned above.
3. PoP-NPS shall submit the details/reports as may be determined by the Authority from time to time.
(All the above-mentioned reports shall invariably be duly checked and verified by the Compliance Officer.)
F. Redressal of grievances
[1] PoP-NPS shall maintain Grievance Redressal Mechanism internally as per Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Redressal of Subscriber Grievance) Regulations, 2015 and amendments thereof for redressing complaints with respect to the services rendered to NPS subscribers. The name, e-mail id/s and telephone number/s of the designated Grievance Redressal Officer (GRO) of the PoP/service provider branches/offices shall be made public through display on website preferably and/or at branches. The GRO shall ensure that the grievances of subscribers are redressed effectively and expeditiously.
2. PoP-NPS shall monitor grievances lodged in Centralized Grievance Management System (CGMS) portal on daily basis and it shall ensure that those grievances are resolved on immediate basis.
3. PoP-NPS shall display contact details of grievance redressal cell for receiving the grievances directly from the mapped subscribers and shall be responsible for uploading such grievances received directly from the mapped subscribers and other intermediaries into CGMS portal of CRA, and ensure redressal of the same within the timeline specified in Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Redressal of Subscriber Grievance) Regulations, 2015 and amendments thereof. PoP shall also maintain the record of grievance received directly from the subscriber in physical or digital mode.
4. PoP-NPS shall lodge its grievance, if any, against any intermediary such as CRA or Trustee Bank in CGMS.
5. Top management of PoP-NPS shall review grievances received under NPS as specified by the Authority for the quality of resolution to be apprised to the Board of the PoP. PoP shall devise a mechanism for reporting quality of grievance resolution observed by the top management to the Board of PoP. Such report should inter-alia include number of grievances received by the PoP over a period, number of grievances resolved by it; number of cases where appeals have been filed, Turn Around Time (TAT) taken for grievance resolution and report regarding review of quality of resolution of top management.
6. PoPs-NPS are required to comply with and take necessary action on communications issued by the NPS Trust and/or the Ombudsman.
G. Other Functions
[1] Appointment of Compliance Officer, Designated Director and Principal Officer
(i) PoP-NPS shall appoint Compliance Officer, Designated Director and Principal Officer as per the proviso under regulation 21 of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and amendments thereof. The Compliance Officer shall be responsible for monitoring compliance under NPS including provisions of the PFRDA Act 2013, rules, regulations, notifications, circulars, guidelines, directions, advisories and any other instructions issued by the Authority from time to time.
ii. PoP-NPS shall ensure that any change in the above-mentioned officers is communicated to the Authority within 3 (three) working days of the same as per format (Annexure 3) Further, frequent change of compliance officer may be avoided to ensure the continued monitoring and compliances. POP to also ensure proper handover takeover of the duties, in case of any such changes.
iii. The latest details available with the Authority in respect of the Compliance Officer of the PoP shall be considered for serving any notice(s) or taking any regulatory action(s) in case of any breach of any regulations and operational guidelines as envisaged under the extant Regulations.
2. Display of list of Service Provider Branches
PoP-NPS to ensure that the list of Service Provider Branches performing the activities of NPS shall be made available on its website.
3. Confidentiality
PoP-NPS shall maintain absolute confidentiality with respect to all records, data and information received by it in accordance with PFRDA (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and amendments thereof from time to time.
4. IT and cyber security requirements
PoP-NPS shall have adequate IT infrastructure at all its branches, registered for carrying out activities under NPS as prescribed under the PFRDA Act 2013, Rules, Notifications, guidelines etc.
(i) For access to CRA system, the concerned PoP shall:
a. have regular and uninterrupted internet connectivity for web-based interaction;
b. have demonstrated capability to electronically transmit the information related to NPS subscriber contribution through Subscriber Contribution Files (SCFs) as per the specified timelines;
c. have adequate systems with Operating System (OS), web browsers at all its branches and back-office software for:
d. receiving transactions requests and uploading in the CRA system;
e. issuance of acknowledgement with unique ID against receipt of subsequent contribution and all other activities; and
f. monitoring status of each transaction and generating regular MIS reports for internal control purposes.
(ii) It shall be the responsibility of the PoP to utilize IT infrastructure and act on the basis of views and reports made available by CRA for providing quality service delivery to the NPS subscribers.
(iii) PoP-NPS shall ensure compliance of cyber security policy and submit the reports as determined by the Authority from time to time.
Point of presence shall adhere to the code of conduct as specified in Schedule-II of Regulation 22 of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 and amendments thereof at all times and ensure that pension agents also comply with the same.
[5] Compliance with respect to other guidelines
PoPs–NPS shall follow the Guidelines, Circulars, Notifications, Advisories and Directions issued by the Authority from time to time and any other law in force while performing the activities related to Point of Presence.
Referred circular and other relevant documents are available at www.pfrda.org.in.
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