Advisories to be followed by Point of Presence (PoPs) under NPS (All Citizen and Corporate)/NPS-Lite/ APY — Master Circular dated 14.01.2025
पेंशन निधि विनियामक और विकास प्राधिकरण
PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
MASTER CIRCULAR
PFRDA/Master Circular/2025/01/PoP-01
Date: January 14, 2025
To
All stakeholders
Madam/Sir,
Master Circular — Advisories to be followed by Point of Presence (PoPs) under NPS (All Citizen and Corporate)/NPS-Lite/ APY
- This circular is issued in exercise of powers conferred under sub-section (1) of Section 14 read with sub-section (2) clause (m) of Section 14 of the Pension Fund regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 and Regulation 15 of the PFRDA (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018, as amended thereon.
- This master circular consolidates the existing instructions with regard to “Advisories to be followed by PoPs’’. The list of underlying circulars on the subject is furnished in the Annexure-I.
This circular is issued with the approval of the competent authority.
Yours faithfully,
(Ashish Kumar Bharati)
General Manager
| INDEX | |
| PART A | Introduction |
| PART B | General Guidelines |
| PART C | Advisories to be followed by Point of Presence (PoPs) under NPS (All Citizen and Corporate)/NPS-Lite/APY |
| PART D | List of circulars consolidated in the Master Circular -Annexure I |
| List of circulars Rescinded and Archived – Annexure II | |
PART A
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Point of Presence (PoP) is an important intermediary under the NPS architecture, which is entrusted with the most important duty and responsibility of onboarding of subscribers under NPS/APY/NPY Vatsalya and providing them various services under it. Such as
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- Initial Customer Interaction
- Registration of Subscribers
- Processing of initial contribution and Regular subscriber’s contribution
- Handling of Subscriber requests
- Handling of grievances
- Processing of Exit
1.2 Any citizen of India between the ages of 18 to 70 can open an NPS account by visiting any PoP or online through the eNPS web portal hosted by NPS Trust or by any other intermediary of such Trust. To provide maximum convenience and to ensure ease of transaction to the subscribers, the subscribers are provided with new options for remittance of NPS contributions to the collection account through various channels such as D-remit, BBPS, NACH, and QR Code.
1.3. The e-NPS web portal has been introduced to provide subscribers with the facility to open an NPS account online and make contributions hereto.
1.4 Corporate(s) may join NPS through any one of the existing POPs under the NPS Corporate Sector Model or may take a registration as POP subject to eligibility conditions under PFRDA (PoP) Regulations.
PART B
2. GENERAL GUIDELINES
2.1 The compliance obligation of the PoPs shall not be confined merely to the Master Circular but, also to the applicable laws and regulations.
2.2 This Master Circular shall take effect from the date of its issuance but shall be without prejudice to their (earlier issued circulars) operation and effect, for the period when they were in force, until them being subsumed under the Master Circular. Based on the above caveat, Part D containing the list of circulars consolidated in the Master Circular — is placed at Annexure I, such that they are subsumed in the Master Circular and for all purpose and intent, remain operative, with no break of continuity. The list of circulars rescinded from time to time and archived is placed at Annexure II.
2.3 Notwithstanding such rescission of any circular, upon their merger in the Master Circular, or otherwise, anything done or any action taken or purported to have been done or taken, or to be taken hereafter, under the circulars now rescinded (for the period of their operation) shall be construed to have been validly taken as if the said circulars are in full force and effect and shall remain unaffected by their rescission, in any manner.
2.4 The previous operation of the rescinded circulars or anything duly done or suffered thereunder, any right, privilege, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred, any penalty, any order passed, any violation committed, any investigation, legal proceedings pending in terms of the circular (now rescinded), shall be treated as if the circulars are in full force and effect and shall remain unaffected by their rescission, in any manner.
PART C
3. Advisories to be followed by Point of Presence (PoPs) under NPS (All Citizen and Corporate)/NPS Lite
3.1 Measures to minimize the high number of rejections in Subscriber registration forms
3.1.1. As per the analysis of the reports provided by the CRA, the following are the prominent reasons for rejections in Subscriber Registration Forms:
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- Receipt number/POP-SP registration number not provided/invalid
- Mandatory personal details not filled in CSRF-1
- Address not mentioned in CSRF-1
- Incorrect PAN mentioned
- Nomination not filled, which is a mandatory field
- Non-authorisation of form by Nodal Office/POP-SPs
- Not choosing Pension Fund Manager
3.1.2. All the PoPs are advised to check the subscriber registration with respect to the above- mentioned reasons before submitting it to CRA-FC/CRA for account opening, in order to minimize rejections. Further, it is advised that mobile number (mandatory) and email address may also be provided in the registration form to facilitate future correspondence with the subscriber.
3.2 Digital Signature for online onboarding in NPS and ‘Penny drop verification’ for Bank Account Verification
3.2.1 Considering the technological innovations and developments in online delivery of financial services, requests received from PoPs and the Authority’s disposition towards subscriber’s interest, the following measures are being prescribed for NPS:-
1. While opening an ‘Individual Pension Account’ in NPS as defined u/s 2(1)(e) of PFRDA Act, 2013, digital consent of applicant may be obtained through ‘digital signature’ as defined under clause (p) of subsection (1) of section (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000) as amended from time to time or through Aadhar e-Sign.
2. For enrolment in NPS, Bank account details of the applicant is mandatory and supporting documentary evidence viz. cancelled cheque or copy of bank passbook or bank statement or bank certificate or letter from Bank with Subscriber Name, Bank Name, Bank Account Number and IFS Code is required to be submitted along with the application form which is verified by the Point of Presence (POP).
3. PoPs can now verify the Applicant’s bank account through ‘penny drop procedure’ wherein the PoP transfers a nominal amount (say Re.1) to the bank account provided by the applicant and receives the confirmation for the transfer along with applicant’s details from the transferee Bank.
4. The ‘penny drop procedure’ will be an additional method for verifying the applicant’s bank account details by the PoP. However, the copy of electronic response received by the PoP from the transferee Bank while transferring the nominal (penny) amount should be submitted to CRA.
PoPs may also extend this ‘penny drop procedure’ to their existing NPS subscribers for changing his/ her bank account details with CRA.
5. For providing the above services, PoP and CRAs should ensure cyber and data security of the NPS architecture/system while devising such electronic or digital connectivity for transmission of data among the PoP/CRA/applicant/ subscriber.
COMMENTS