PFRDA aims to raise non-govt NPS subscriber base to 35-40 crore in 5 years

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) on Friday said the regulator aims to increase the number of non-government National Pension System (NPS) subscribers to 35-40 crore over the next five years from the current 90 lakh by leveraging digital platforms and expanding its distribution network.Speaking at an outreach programme for mutual fund distributors on the StAR NPS platform in Kolkata, Ramann said PFRDA is building digital infrastructure such as StAR NPS with BSE and Tatkal NPS with NPCI to simplify subscriber onboarding and improve last-mile access.”We have set ourselves a clear goal of growing non-government NPS subscribers from 90 lakh to 35-40 crore in five years,” PFRDA Chairperson S Ramann said.He said the regulator has tripled distributor commissions since October and introduced an on-tap licensing system for pension funds to encourage wider participation by banks and mutual fund houses.Ramann said PFRDA’s conservative pension schemes have delivered annual returns of about 9.2-9.3% over the past 15 years, while the Atal Pension Yojana has enrolled around 10 crore subscribers through bank and regional rural bank networks.The outreach programme focused on promoting the StAR NPS platform among mutual fund distributors, who can also function as Pension Agents to expand NPS coverage.The StAR NPS platform enables fully digital onboarding through CKYC and DigiLocker-based verification, instant Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) generation, and direct settlement of subscriber contributions to improve efficiency and transparency.PFRDA said it would continue similar outreach programmes across the country to deepen pension penetration and improve retirement coverage through technology-enabled initiatives.

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