NPS/APY Functionalities released by CRAs during Quarter IV (FY 2021-22): PFRDA

NPS/APY Functionalities released by CRAs during Quarter IV (FY 2021-22) under NPS Regular / eNPS and NPS – Lite/ APY categories: PFRDA Circular dated 09.06.2022

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

CIRCULAR

Circular no.: PFRDA/2022/12/SUP-CRA/3

June 09, 2022

To,

All stakeholders under NPS

Subject: NPS/APY Functionalities released by CRAs during Quarter IV (FY 2021-22)

The Central Record Keeping Agencies (CRAs) appointed by PFRDA develop system level functionalities as per the evolving needs of NPS/APY stakeholders in accordance with Section 21 of PFRDA Act 2013.

CRAs have the responsibility to develop new functionalities or utilities, establish new processes, offer multiple models of interface for the uploading offices in order to provide maximum flexibility in terms of operation for the benefit of the subscribers as an ongoing exercise to fulfil their obligations which ultimately benefit the Subscribers.

The functionalities made available by CRAs (Refer Annexures I, II & III) during Quarter IV of the FY 2021-22, categorized as under-

i. NPS Regular / eNPS
ii. NPS – Lite/ APY

The circular placed in the intermediary section of CRA on PFRDA website www.pfrda.org.in for the information of all NPS/APY stakeholders.

(K. Mohan Gandhi)
Chief General Manager

Annexure I – Functionalities released by Protean CRA during Q4 of FY 2021-22

No.	Name of Development/ Functionalities	Description
(i) NPS Regular / eNPS
1	Withdrawal Process – Online Bank acct verification	As part of online processing of Superannuation / Premature Exit /Partial Withdrawal request for Government and Non-Government Subscribers Bank Account of the Subscriber and name is matched through Online Bank Account verification (penny drop facility). Now, Account verification along with name match will be performed at the time of initiation of withdrawal request instead of while authorization of request.
2	Online paperless exit process in Govt Sector	Online paperless exit (Superannuation / Premature Exit) has been implemented for Government Sector through OTP authentication / eSign in addition to physical Form submission option. As part of the process, Subscriber will initiate online exit, upload scanned documents and submit the same in the CRA system through OTP authentication / eSign. Bank Account of the Subscriber and name will be matched through Online Bank Account verification (penny drop facility).
3	Changes in complete withdrawal process request	In case of Superannuation Exit request for Govt. Subscribers, eligibility to opt for complete withdrawal will be on the basis of corpus at the time of initiation of request instead of corpus as on Date of Retirement.
4	eNPS subscribers – withdrawal through PoPs	POPs can initiate conditional withdrawal request for eNPS Subscribers also along with their mapped Subscribers.
5	NPS – HOD Dashboard facility	CRA has enabled HOD Dashboard for State Government HODs. Now HOD Dashboard has been extended to PFRDA users
6	eNPS payment gateway facility	Integration with Razorpay payment gateway service provider for the following: Subscriber Registration T2 Activation TTS Activation NPS Lite Swavlamban Contribution
7	Subscribers’ consent to share the contact details with ASPs	CRA shares details of Subscribers retiring in the next quarter at the beginning of current quarter Now, as per PFRDA directive, CRA will share Subscriber details with ASPs for only those set of Subscribers who have provided consent for the same. Subscribers belonging to Private Sector and Group A of Govt. Sector are required to provide consent in order to share details with ASPs Subscribers can provide consent through their login in CRA Website, through link received in Email and SMS
8	ePRAN card – Integration with Digilocker	Integration with Digilocker for issuance of ePRAN Card Subscribers will be able to access ePRAN Card through Digilocker id.
9	NPS Scheme preference change – frequency update	Scheme preference change allowed 4 times in a financial year for UOS & Corporate sector for Tier I Scheme preference change allowed 4 times in a financial year for All Sectors for Tier II
10	Changes in Payin file format	Payin file format has been modified to incorporate onboarding of third CRA
11	Transaction Statement in regional languages	Transaction Statement is now available in Gujarati and Punjabi language in addition to English, Hindi, Kannada and Marathi languages.
12	PAN existence verification during Subscriber registration	At the time of Subscriber registration, existence of PAN in other CRA (API service provided by KCRA) will be checked.
13	Enabling conditional withdrawal beyond 60 years	Conditional withdrawal has been allowed for the below mentioned scenarios: Subscriber who have joined after 60 years of age Subscribers who have joined before 60 years and now crossed 60 years/retirement
14	Reduction in minimum number of years for Premature Exit	Following are the changes in the processing of Premature Exit requests: Reduction of Minimum of 10 years to 5 years for UOS Subscribers Removal of Minimum of 10 years for Corporate Subscribers
15	Password protected system generated registration form	At the time of registration through eNPS, once Subscriber completes eSign/OTP Authentication, system generated registration form is sent as an attachment to the Subscriber through email. Now system generated registration form sent will be password protected wherein subscriber has to enter password in order to view the same.
16	Changes in CRA interoperability framework	Changes in Interoperability framework to incorporate third CRA integration
(ii) NPS Lite / APY
17	Mandatory new APY exit file format during withdrawal process	APY Service Providers (APY-SPs) upload the online exit file in CRA system for Subscribers exiting APY due to premature exit. New APY Voluntary Exit file format with following fields was made mandatory: Active Bank Account Flag Reason for Exit
18	NPS Lite/APY – Aadhaar Seeding facility	Aadhaar seeding facility for APY Subscribers made available to the Subscribers. Subscribers can seed Aadhaar through link provided on limited access view of the CRA transaction website

Annexure II – Functionalities released by KFin Technologies CRA during Q4 of FY 2021-22

No.	Name of Development/ Functionalities	Description
1	Changes in process of sharing of contribution details by Corporates to POP	Previously, Corporates are sharing the contribution details to POP through emails so that POP can prepare the contribution file and upload in CRA system. Now an option has been enabled in the CRA system, where Corporate user will upload the contribution details in excel format and same will be available to POP user to download. POP can download the same details and prepare the contribution file, if required and can upload in CRA system. Once the SCF is uploaded by the POP, CSF (Contribution Submission Form) can be uploaded as response against the contribution details uploaded by Corporate. This will remove the dependency of sending details through email and the information can be tracked any point of time. Link: https://cra.kfintech.com/
2	Re-activation of PRANs to continue in case of pre- mature exit	The subscribers who have opted for pre-mature exit can reactivate the NPS account post pre-mature exit in case of non-processing of ASP request and continue the same PRAN. To continue the same NPS continue, subscriber to submit the request to POP along with contribution of total amount of lumpsum withdrawn to reactive the NPS account. On receipt of the request from the subscriber, POP to capture the same in CRA system and second user of POP to authorize the request. On Authorization of the request, PRAN will be activated.
3	Cancellation of ack IDs by POP User	In case of subscriber registration using online, subscriber may leave the journey and request to cancel the ack ID. Currently, the same is being handled by CRA user. Now the same has been extended to POP.
4	Display of Aadhaar based eSign charge	UIDAI has reduced the online Aadhaar authentication pricing from Rs. 21.95/- (plus GST) to Rs. 7.54/- (plus GST) from Oct 15, 2021. Accordingly, the display of pricing information updated with revised price structure on following places: eNPS registration, POP Online Registration Bank details/ Address updation Nominee updation & Exit and Partial withdrawal
5	Access of Transaction Statement ePRAN card through Digilocker for KFintech-CRA subscribers	An integration has been done with Digilocker where KFintech-CRA subscriber can access the Transaction Statement and ePRAN through Digilocker portal/App. Also the Transaction Statement and ePRAN card can be stored in Digilocker and user can access the same as and when required. This is an additional mode to access the said NPS information. Link: https://enps.kfintech.com/registration/
6	Revision of Service Charges for POPs under NPS (All Citizen and Corporate)	Services Charges for POPs under NPS has been revised and configured in the system in respective module (All Citizen and Corporate). Further, service charge for POP for contribution through eNPS by POP subscriber has been revised and the same has been implemented in eNPS. Link: https://www.digilocker.gov.in/
7	Report download in CSV format by POP	A facility has been implemented where POP users can download the Corporate Subscriber list in the CSV format in addition to existing Excel and Text format for specific period or as on date. Link: https://enps.kfintech.com/contributeonline/pendingonlinecontribution/
8	Online Aadhaar KYC registration through Digi Locker	Online Aadhaar KYC registration through Digi Locker has been enabled under eNPS. Subscriber to enter 12-digit Aadhaar number and OTP will be received on the registered mobile number, on submission of OTP user to provide consent to extract the KYC details from Digi Locker. KYC details will be fetched from Digi Locker and auto populated to the user with details like, Name, Father Name, Address, Gender, DOB to complete the KYC requirement.
9	Contribution Statement view facility for State Government nodal offices	Contribution Statement view facility has been implemented for State Government nodal offices wherein they can view the details of regular contribution based on financial year selection. Also, they can view the arrear contribution credited in selected financial year for underlying subscribers.
10	User name display along with User ID	Along with User ID, User name will also be displayed after logon into CRA system.
11	Scheme Preference Change	Now the subscribers will have the option to change the investment choice / asset allocation (changing between Auto Choice and Active Choice or to change the ratio of allocation among asset classes under Active Choice) four times in a financial year.
12	Self-authorization based on Digilocker for online Aadhaar	In case of self-authorization based on Aadhaar was implemented using offline XML. Now the same has been changed to Digilocker based online Aadhaar facility. Link: https://enps.kfintech.com/login/login/
13	Contribution status view restriction based on User ID	In case of State Government, the contribution is being uploaded by DTA user and any of DTA user can view all the contribution uploaded at DTA level. Now the restriction has been implemented where User who is uploading the contribution can only view the status of the same.

Annexure III – Functionalities released by CAMS CRA during Q4 of FY 2021-22

No.	Name of Development/ Functionalities	Description
1	eNPS registration module	Two Factor Authentication through mobile and email OTP to ensure correct mobile number and email ID CKYC and Aadhaar XML based online KYC flows Auto populate KYC data to minimize subscriber clicks Online bank account validation Option for on-screen signature Link: https://app.camsnps.com/CRA/auth/enps/register?source=eNPS
2	Provision to make contribution with multiple payment options	In the CRA system, provision to make Tier 1 and Tier 2 contribution with multiple payment options has been introduced. Pop up explaining the user about list of payment gateway supported banks and charges associated with each payment option.
3	Grievance module to track its status	Provision to capture satisfactory/ non-satisfactory response of subscriber for escalation to Level 2/ Level 3 Grievance redressal officers. TAT based Level 1/ Level 2/ Level 3/ NPS Trust auto escalation matrix Track your Status, for subscribers, to view the Grievance redressal officer who is handling your current query/grievance
4	Provision to download and view various statements	The provision to download and view following statements has been introduced. Transaction Statement, Voluntary Contribution Statement and Holding statements for current financial year, previous financial year and custom date ranges
5	Dashboard facility to NPS Subscriber	Dashboard for subscriber to view their current portfolio valuation Projection of expected retirement corpus with computed XIRR based on present day NAV
6	Revamped Homepage of CAMS CRA	Homepage with content explaining features of NPS, rules & regulations, Tax benefits, etc. NPS Calculator to estimate retirement corpus based on age, monthly contribution, expected rate of return and corpus allotted for annuity/ lumpsum withdrawal. Quick links to open an NPS account, make contribution, raise grievance etc. Link: https://camsnps.com/