Agents can charge up to Rs 5,000 from people joining NPS online

Service charges collected through eNPS platform to be paid to agents on quarterly basis after reconciliation of account

In order to encourage financial agents, popularly called POP, to promote pension schemes, the PFRDA has allowed them to collect service charges between Rs 5 and Rs 5,000 from subscribers joining NPS via online platform.

The eNPS platform has been introduced to provide subscribers the facility to open NPS account online and make contributions thereto.

The service charges would be applicable only to the subscribers who are associated with any of the Points of Presence (POPs) from and also to the subscribers who have opened account through PAN and bank KYC verification on eNPS platform.

With a view to incentivising POPs to "actively promote and distribute" NPS, it was suggested that PFRDA may consider allowing some service charges to the POPs as is the case of other financial products particularly for transactions where first time on boarding of the subscriber in the NPS had been through the intervention of POPs.

Accordingly, the regulator said that it has been decided to to introduce, in addition to the payment gateway charges, service charge on contribution through eNPS to the associated POP of the subscriber on the date of making contribution.

"The service charges to be recovered...Would be 0.05 per cent of the contribution amount ad valorem, subject to minimum of Rs 5 and maximum of Rs 5,000 per transaction," the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) said in a circular.

The service charges collected through eNPS platform would be paid to the concerned associated POP on quarterly basis after reconciliation of the account by CRA and Trustee Bank.

NPS Trust will authorise the payment of these collected service charges to the POPs.

However, these charges would not be applicable to the subscribers who have opened account through Aadhaar mode on eNPS platform.

Various facilities (like opening Permanent Retirement Account, contributing to NPS) are provided through the entities known as POPs appointed by the PFRDA.