The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) issued a circular on September 24, 2025, addressing Central Government employees who are currently on deputation or foreign service and wish to opt for the newly implemented Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). The UPS was formally introduced by the Central Government’s notification dated January 24, 2025, followed by PFRDA and DoPPW regulations. The circular notes that employees on deputation to organizations not covered by the UPS were encountering difficulties in exercising their option before the strict deadline of September 30, 2025. To facilitate compliance, PFRDA directed all such employees intending to opt for the UPS to submit a duly filled physical copy of Form A2 to their respective nodal office of their parent organization by the deadline. The parent nodal office is then responsible for processing the employee’s migration to the UPS through the established Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) system.
PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
Circular No: PFRDA/2022/13/SUP-CG-SG/05 September 24, 2025
To,
All the stakeholders of NPS and UPS
Subject: Central Government employees on Deputation/Foreign service to submit Physical ‘Form A2’ to opt for UPS.
The Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) has been notified by the Central Government vide notification F. No. FX-1/3/ 2024-PR, dated 24.01.2025 issued by Dept. of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance. Further, the PFRDA (Operationalization of the Unified Pension Scheme under NPS) Regulations, 2025 were notified on 19.03.2025 and the Central Civil Services (Implementation of Unified Pension Scheme under National Pension System) Rules, 2025 have been notified by DoPPW on 02.09.2025.
2. It has come to notice that several employees currently on deputation/foreign service to organisations not covered under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) are facing difficulty in exercising their option for UPS.
3. In view of the impending deadline for exercising the option under the Unified Pension Scheme, i.e., 30th September, 2025, it is hereby brought to the attention of all concerned that:
All employees who are currently on deputation/foreign service and intend to opt for the Unified Pension Scheme may submit the duly filled physical copy of Form A2 to their respective nodal office of their parent organisation on or before the specified due date.
The nodal office concerned shall then process the migration to UPS through the CRA system in accordance with the prescribed procedure.
4. A copy of the Form A2 is annexed to this circular for reference.
(Vikas Kumar Singh)
Chief General Manager
