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Informist, Monday, Jul. 27, 2026

 

By Priyasmita Dutta and Sagar Sen

 

NEW DELHI – The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority plans to onboard subscribers under the National Pension System through Unified Payments Interface platforms to increase pension coverage and simplify onboarding processes, a senior official said. The pension regulator is starting this digital journey with the National Payments Corp. of India's BHIM UPI application. "We are beginning this new initiative with BHIM; eventually, the option will be available in every UPI application like GooglePay, PayTm, PhonePe...," the PFRDA official told Informist. 

 

PFRDA and NPCI have already developed the interface and are now waiting for individual banks to link this service with their account holders. "Banks will have to be onboarded with the system because the money will be deducted from bank accounts at the end of the day," another official said. The pension regulator is hopeful that this digital initiative will be operational by the end of 2026-27 (Apr-Mar). 

 

Presently, one cannot directly enrol or open a new National Pension System account through the BHIM UPI application but can make subsequent contributions through it. To formally join the NPS, subscribers have to first register online or offline to get their Permanent Retirement Account Number. With this unique account number, or registered mobile number, subsequent investments under NPS can be directly made through the BHIM app.

 

According to the second PFRDA official, while the window to opt for NPS through UPI is already available in the BHIM app, it is not operational. Major banks like HDFC Bank or ICICI Bank are yet to allow linking bank accounts with the NPS window. "It is work in progress, and will be soon rolled out," the official said. 

 

The government introduced the defined-contribution National Pension System on Jan. 1, 2004, replacing the defined-benefit old pension scheme. The NPS is a market-linked annuity scheme under which individuals contribute regularly during employment and receive a pension linked to the fund performance upon retirement. It is mandatory for central government employees, while others may join voluntarily.

 

PFRDA's initiative comes as pension coverage in India continues to be inadequate. India's pension system has expanded steadily, but overall coverage remains modest relative to the size of the workforce, the Economic Survey for 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) had said. "At the contributory end, simplifying enrolment through Aadhaar-based authentication, enabling frictionless micro-contributions via digital payments, and synchronising pension outreach with broader financial inclusion drives can help deepen penetration," the survey, authored by a team led by Chief Economic Adviser to the government V. Anantha Nageswaran, had said. 

 

As of Jun. 30, NPS had 22.40 million subscribers with assets under management worth INR 17.27 trillion.  End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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