NPS/APY Functionalities released by CRAs during Quarter III & IV (FY 2023- 24): PFRDA Circular dt. 14.06.2024
PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
CIRCULAR
Circular no: PFRDA/2024/12/Sup-CRA/06
14th June 2024
To
All stakeholders under the NPS
Subject: NPS/APY Functionalities released by CRAs during Quarter III & IV (FY 2023- 24)
The CRAs registered with Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), continuously enhance their systems to meet the needs of NPS/APY architecture.
2. As part of their ongoing efforts to fulfil their obligations and benefit subscribers & stakeholders, CRAs are responsible for developing new functionalities, establishing new processes, and offering multiple models of interfaces for the uploading offices. These initiatives provide maximum flexibility in terms of operation for the benefit of the stakeholders.
3. The functionalities developed by CRAs during Quarter III & IV of FY 2023-24, aimed at improving user experience and operational ease, are provided in Annexures I, II, and III of this Circular.
4. This circular is placed on the PFRDA website’s intermediary section for easy access by all stakeholders.
Yours sincerely,
Digitally signed by K MOHAN GANDHI
Chief General Manager
Annexure I – Functionalities released by CAMS CRA during Q3 & Q4 of FY 2023-24
| Sr. No. | Name of the Functionality | Description | Impact / Benefit |
| 1 | Reinvestment of Returned Funds and My withdrawal Module
( MWM) |
Funds lying in Trustee bank account due to mismatch in bank details for more than 30 days will be reinvested in PRAN with last investment choice opted by Subscriber.
Through the MWM, the subscribers can claim back the amount by providing the necessary details. |
Enabling Subscribers to earn market linked returns on the returned corpus due to unsuccessful transactions |
| 2 | Mandatory Penny drop verification – Instant Bank Account Verification | Bank verification with name matching has to be successful for processing the Exit / Withdrawal requests and also for modifying the subscriber’s bank account details. | Enhanced Due Diligence |
| 3 | Payment Receipt – Download facility to POPs and subscribers | An option has been given to PoPs and subscribers to download acknowledgment receipts of registration / contribution anytime under their login. | Convenience and ease of access |
| 4 | Subscriber KYC download facility to POPs | PoPs can download KYC of the subscribers that was extracted for account opening as well as the updated KYC of the subscribers along with the logs under Downloads> KYC Proof- Registration, KYC Modification log. | Enhanced facility to PoP |
| 5 | Bank account verification status | Subscribers can check the penny drop and name matching verification status of their Bank account through their login before placing exit/withdrawal request. | Subscribers can avoid the inconvenience while withdrawal funds and on hold due to failed bank verification. |
| 6 | Mobile/Email linked to
multiple PRANs |
Mandate for Subscriber to provide a unique mobile number in their NPS account to place any withdrawal/exit request.
Subscriber will not be able to withdraw their funds / exit from NPS if the given Mobile/Email is linked with multiple PRANs. |
Enhanced security. |
| 7 | CRA portability with KFintech CRA | Inter-CRA shifting module between CAMS and KCRA implemented and subscribers can now port their PRANs between the two CRAs. | Portability of NPS accounts between CRAs |
| 8 | Partial Withdrawal through PoP/Nodal Office | Subscribers tagged to Government / PoPs need to submit partial withdrawal requests through their respective Nodal Office / PoP for authorization. | Compliance with regulations. |
| 9 | Bulk CSRF download to PoP | Bulk CSRF download enabled for PoPs from their logins. | Convenience to PoPs |
| 10 | Change of Pension Fund and Investment choice exclusively through subscriber login. | The Subscriber can now change their Pension Fund and investment choice through their login credentials only. | Enhanced security. |
| 11 | Choice of Multi- Pension Fund to subscriber after 3 months of registration. | Subscribers are now allowed to opt for multiple Pension Funds under Active Choice investment after three months from the date of NPS account opening. | Additional investment option for subscribers |
| 12 | Multiple Pension Fund Manager selection for different schemes in Tier II | Subscriber can now select Multiple Pension Fund Managers in Active Choice investment under Tier-II. |
Additional investment option for subscribers |
Annexure II – Functionalities released by KFin Technologies CRA during Q3 &Q4 of FY 2023-24
| Sr. No. | Name of the Functionality | Description | Impact / Benefit |
| 1 | Contribution- AML Declaration on eNPS | AML declaration to be confirmed by subscriber on eNPS Contribution page before selection of mode of payment and Payment Gateway Service Provider (PGSP) | Compliance with regulations |
| 2 | Reinvestment of Returned Funds and My withdrawal Module (MWM) | Reinvestment of Fund lying in Trustee bank account due to mismatch in bank details for more than 30 days will be reinvested in PRAN with last investment choice opted by Subscriber. Through the MWM, the subscribers can reclaim the amount by providing the necessary details and bank account number. | Enabling Subscribers to earn market linked returns on the returned corpus due to unsuccessful transactions |
| 3 | Integration with ASPs | APIs enhancement for ASP for:
– Annuity request confirmation. – Reverse Information flow – Subscriber Annuity KYC Documents |
Ease of Issuance of Annuity |
| 4 | Exit & Withdrawal/Bank details modification- Penny drop Implementation | Bank verification with name matching has to be successful for processing the Exit / Withdrawal requests and also for modifying the subscriber’s bank account details. | Enhanced Due Diligence. |
| 5 | Change of POP by the Subscribers under All Citizens Model | Subscriber can now capture online request for POP change through login. This POP change request will flow to target POP for authorisation. Post the authorisation by target POP, the PRAN will be mapped to target POP | Convenience and ease of shifting POPs for the benefit of subscribers |
| 6 | Changes in Demography of Subscribers | Subscriber can now change the Marital and Gender status from subscriber login and can also submit physical request to Nodal offices, who will capture and authorize the request.
For Govt sector, the request needs to be authorized by the Nodal office. |
Convenience to subscribers |
| 7 | Mandatory Upload of Documents during change requests. | Subscriber while submitting the change request (Form S2) to Nodal Office, the supporting document / proof to be uploaded mandatorily along with application form while initiating request in CRA system by Nodal Office. | Enhanced security and robust record keeping |
| 8 | Exit & Withdrawal | Subscribers tagged to Government / PoPs need to submit partial withdrawal requests through their respective Nodal Office / PoP for authorization. | Compliance with regulations |
| 9 | Inter CRA
subscriber shifting |
Inter-CRA shifting module between KCRA and other CRAs implemented | Convenience of Portability of NPS accounts across CRAs |
| 10 | Unique mobile and email id for Subscribers | Any update in Subscriber Mobile, Email and Bank account, CRA system will now check for its uniqueness during modification. | Enhanced security |
| 11 | Exit & Withdrawal | Subscribers will now be informed on monthly basis about the Pending Requests viz withdrawal, changes requested in their Account etc. | Part of Subscriber communication. |
| 12 | CRA login through Aadhaar | Additional security features through Aadhaar-based authentication for accessing to the CRA system in implemented. | Enhanced security |
| 13 | Option for multiple Pension Funds | Subscribers are now allowed to opt for multiple PF option under Active Choice investment after three months from the date of NPS account opening |
Choice of Investment |
Annexure III – Functionalities released by Protean CRA during Q3 & Q4 of FY 2023-24
| Sr. No. | Name of the Functionality | Description | Impact / Benefit |
| 1 | Bank verification with name matching | Bank verification with name matching has to be successful for processing the Exit / Withdrawal requests and also for modifying the subscriber’s bank account details. | Enhanced Due Diligence |
| 2 | Revamp of Annuity Calculator | Annuity Calculator revamped with the following features.
-Option to filter Annuity Service Providers (ASPs) while fetching ASP quotes based on name or value -Option to view ASP quotes only for selected ASPs |
Facilitate informed decision making |
| 3 | NPS Lite / APY – Online Withdrawal facility | The Online screen-based facility implemented for PoPs for processing of Death withdrawal requests along with bank details verification through penny drop (with mandatory name verification). | Ease of Submission of claims and faster processing of claims |
| 4 | NPS Regular / NPS Lite / APY – Improvement in document upload facility at the time of exit | The limit for document upload has been increased from 2 MB to 5 MB at the time of initiation of below mentioned withdrawal requests:
– Pre-Mature Exit – Superannuation – Incapacitation |
Ease of upload of documents and timely processing of claims. |
| 5 | NPS Regular – Bank Details Modification | Facility has been provided in Nodal Office login to upload Bank details as per their HRIMS system. | Nodal Office will be able to provide & update salary bank details of their underlying Subscribers through Bulk processing |
| 6 | Unique Mobile/
email during Withdrawal of NPS |
Mandate for Subscriber to provide a unique mobile number in their NPS account during withdrawal/exit | Enhanced security |
| 7 | NPS Lite
Withdrawal – Penny Drop & mandatory name verification |
Penny Drop (mandatory name verification) implemented in case of NPS Lite for the following:
1. Withdrawal on death 2. Partial Withdrawal |
Enhanced due diligence |
| 8 | NPS Lite – Subscriber Registration | Penny Drop (mandatory name verification) has been implemented in case of registration for GDS Subscribers | Enhanced due diligence |
| 9 | eNPS – Subscriber Registration | Changes in eNPS portal:
1. Revamped UI/UX 2. eSign/Dual OTP Authentication prior to contribution at the time Subscriber Registration 3. Implementation of penny drop bank details verification at the time of Subscriber registration. 4. Implementation of LC 50 as default scheme option |
Enhanced Subscriber on-boarding journey |
| 10 | Inter CRA
functionality for checking uniqueness of Mobile and email |
New PAN enquiry API created for checking PAN across all CRAs along with existence of duplicate Mobile Number, Email ID and Bank Account or combination of the same entered/provided by POPs in PCRA | Compliance with Guidelines of PFRDA |
| 11 | NPS Regular – Subscriber Details Modification | Salary Bank account flag has been introduced for Govt. Subscribers at Bank details modification module | Enhanced due diligence |
| 12 | NPS Regular – Scheme Preference Change | Subscribers are now allowed to opt for multiple PF option under Active Choice investment after three months from the date of NPS account opening | Choice of Investment |
| 13 | NPS Regular – Subscriber Details Modification | The changes are made at the time of registration through eNPS and screen based OPGM module and Subscriber details modification process:
1. Renamed the label “Income Range” to “Annual Income Range” 2. Annual Income Range field is made mandatory 3. Renamed the label “Address” to “Current Address” |
Compliance with Regulations |
| 14 | Changes at the time of processing of Family/Disability Pension | Changes at the time of processing of Family/Disability Pension requests has been implemented:
1. Bifurcation of Employer-Employee Contribution. 2. Implementation of Penny Drop with mandatory name match to verify bank details of the Subscriber/Claimant. |
Compliance with Regulations |
| 15 | NPS Regular – Login | Additional security features through Aadhaar-based authentication for login to the CRA for Nodal Offices has been implemented.
Login through Aadhaar has been made mandatory |
Securing the access framework |
| 16 | NPS Lite – Security | Password Policy has been changed which will contain following:
8 to 16 characters At least 1 upper case (A-Z) At least 1 lower case (a-z) At least 1 numbers (0-9) At least 1 special characters out of these (!@#$^&*~) No Space character |
Change in password policy to enhance security of NPS access framework |
| 17 | NPS Regular – Withdrawal | Systematic Lumpsum Withdrawal (SLW) implemented at the time of Superannuation. On Superannuation, the option has been made available to redeem NPS corpus (only lumpsum portion) on periodic intervals. Subscriber can select amount which he/she wants to receive on periodic basis or Age upto which one wants to receive amount on periodic basis. | Optimizing Retirement Income |
| 18 | Facility to check Bank account prior to exit/withdrawal. | Subscribers through their login can check the verification status of their Bank account before placing exit/withdrawal request. The option has been enabled in Subscriber’s login to verify existing bank details through penny drop | Facility to verify Bank Account and name matching before exit |
| 19 | Claim ID at the time of pre mature withdrawal | In case of All citizen Subscribers, Claim ID now gets generated at the time of initiation of Premature exit withdrawal request as per guidelines. | Ease of pre mature withdrawal |
| 20 | Changes in NPS Transaction Statement | Financial Year XIRR value in Transaction Statement has been removed from the following:
1. Online Transaction Statement 2. IVR statement 3. Monthly Statement. In order to improve the depiction of returns generated for the investments made in the NPS (for new accounts), financial year XIRR has been removed and only “Return on Investment” since inception displayed |
Improved depiction of Investment Returns |
| 21 | NPS Regular – Subscriber Details Modification | Introduction of separate option to update following fields along with mandatory document upload:
1. Name Change 2. Date of Joining 3. Date of Birth 4. Date of Retirement. • It is mandatory to select & upload supporting documents while updating Name, Date of Joining, Date of Birth and Date of Retirement of the Subscriber. • This will ensure that correct details updated in CRA records with valid documents. |
Compliance with Guidelines |
| 22 | NPS Regular – Subscriber Details View – FATCA | Addition of FATCA Details in the subscriber details view in CRA login. Subscriber will be able to view FATCA details at “Personal Details” view in their login |
Compliance with Regulations and guidelines |
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