Anindita Nayak
Bhubaneswar, 24 August 2026
Between April and June 2026, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority issued a slew of significant circulars that altered the National Pension System. These systemic updates are directly taken from the PFRDA’s quarterly Pension Bulletin and include cost-cutting, flexible investment options, easier digital onboarding and raising the bar on compliance standards.
There have been 10 major regulatory changes since April and here’s a detailed breakdown of them.
1. Second Pilot NPS Swasthya Pension Scheme Run
PFRDA has started Proof of Concept on 7th April 2026 under its Regulatory Sandbox Framework for NPS Swasthya Pension Scheme with incorporation of key feedback received from initial trial run. According to IRDAI rules, the scheme makes health insurance mandatory as it aims at combining retirement savings with healthcare security. Minimum initial contribution is Rs.25,000 and 100% withdrawal of the corpus is allowed for meeting eligible inpatient medical emergencies. Claims are settled directly through authorised healthcare administrators.
2. Reduced fees on dormant and small accounts
On April 29, 2026, a circular was sent to the Central Recordkeeping Agencies to lower fees on small and inactive accounts. Tier II accounts with total corpus up to Rs 1,000 would not attract any Annual Maintenance Charge at all. Dormant accounts will be charged only 10% of the normal AMC. There will also be no fees for opening or activating additional Tier I or Tier II accounts under an existing PRAN. Zero-balance accounts under Atal Pension Yojana and NPS-Lite will also carry a nil AMC.
3. NPS subject to SEBI’s insider trading and front-running norms
With effect from May 5, 2026, PFRDA mandated that SEBI regulations relating to insider trading, self dealing and front running would strictly apply to all NPS investment operations, thereby formally superseding an earlier regulatory circular dated July 25, 2019. Pension Funds are mandated to develop internal codes of conduct, compliance structures and policies as per the norms laid down by SEBI and PFRDA provides direct supervisory supervision on these.
4. Introduction of NPS Sanchay variant
On May 12, 2026, the regulator had launched NPS Sanchay, a simplified option developed under the All Citizen Model and Multi Scheme Framework. NPS Sanchay is available to all Indian citizens between 18 and 85 years of age and offers a default asset allocation model to simplify investment decisions. Normal NPS rules about fund switching, charges structure, withdrawal etc. continue to apply.
5. New Development Bank Rupee Bonds
The Government of India amended the NPS Investment Guidelines on 13th May, 2016 to include Rupee denominated bonds issued by New Development Bank as eligible for inclusion in Government and Non-Government sector investment portfolios. This update has got the in-principle approval of the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance. It retains the standard maturity norms and the requirement of a minimum credit rating of AA or above.
6. Advance Surrender Annuity on Critical Illness
On 14 May 2026 that in special circumstances, for example, if the annuitant or eligible family members of the annuitant suffer critical illness, annuity policyholders can surrender their policies. This applies to policies issued prior to October 24, 2024, with an express surrender provision. Before processing a surrender request, Annuity Service Providers must obtain the annuitant’s written consent and transparently disclose all applicable taxes, surrender charges and final values.
7. Introduction of Retirement Income Schemes
On 15 May 2026, PFRDA launched Retirement Income Schemes which enables eligible subscribers to set up regular, structured payouts, while the rest of their balances remain invested in the market. Subscribers have two main choices: Systematic Pension Redemption and Systematic Uniform Redemption. The basic annuity requirements under the NPS regime shall remain applicable.
8. Regulatory Sandbox Framework for Pension Sector
The PFRDA has announced on June 2, 2026, the setting up of a Regulatory Sandbox Framework to encourage safe technological innovations. The controlled environment allows FinTech firms, regulated pension entities and eligible sandbox applicants to pilot new financial products, technology solutions and business models. The framework enables strong data privacy, subscriber protection and cyber security for live testing.
9. StAR NPS Digital Onboarding Platform Launch
The new platform StAR NPS has been launched by PFRDA on 3rd June 2026. Developed by BSE Technologies Pvt Ltd for end to end digital registrations using DigiLocker and CKYC verification. Contributions are made direct to the Trustee Bank to secure subscriber funds without the need for intermediate consolidation of funds by Points of Presence. The platform provides smooth integration of CRAs, Trustee Bank and other regulatory entities across the NPS network.
10. PAN- Unique identifier for pension agents
12 May 2026: The Permanent Account Number was made the official unique identifier for all the Pension Agents working under Points of Presence. Central Recordkeeping Agencies for maintaining PAN based directories of all agents. Moreover, the PoPs are required to upload the list of active agents on their official websites every six months and designate Nodal Officers to monitor the activities of the agents and answer their queries.
