NPS/APY Functionalities released by CRAs during Quarter III & IV (FY 2023- 24): PFRDA

NPS/APY Functionalities released by CRAs during Quarter III & IV (FY 2023- 24): PFRDA Circular dated 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 CRAsubscriber 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 LiteWithdrawal – 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 CRAfunctionality 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