The National Pension System (NPS) e-nominations process flow for Government/Corporate Sector subscribers has undergone certain adjustments, according to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). Existing NPS subscribers can utilise “e Nomination” using their login credentials to update their nomination in their PRAN. The subscribers may also choose to physically submit the application for modifications in the nomination to the relevant Nodal Officers, Corporate, or Points of Presence (POPs). In a circular released on August 25, 2022, PFRDA said that if the Nodal Office did not act against the nomination request within the given 30 days, it would be approved in the CRA system. The revised e Nomination process flow will go into effect on October 1st, 2022.
PFRDA announced the availability of the e-Nomination service for NPS subscribers in a notification dated September 3, 2020. For the purpose of amending the nomination in the PRAN of subscribers as recorded by the appropriate CRA, e-nomination requests for subscribers associated with the Government or an Identified Corporate must be approved by the corresponding Nodal Office or Identified Corporate. “There are a large number of pendency of e Nomination requests of Subscribers, which are attributed to the non-authorization by the associated Nodal Office/Corporate,” said PFRDA.
PFRDA has said in a circular that “In the interest of Subscribers, it has been decided that once the subscriber initiates the nomination request, the Nodal Office would be given an option of either Accept or Reject the nomination request. In case, the Nodal Office has not initiated any action against the request within the 30 days period, the request would get accepted in CRA system. The revised process flow shall also be applicable to the existing e nomination, which are still unauthorized.”
According to Regulation 32. Nomination set by PFRDA “Notwithstanding anything contained in these regulations or in any other law for the time being in force, a subscriber, at the time of joining the National Pension System is required to make a nomination, in the specified form, conferring on one or more persons the right to receive the amount that may stand to his or her credit in the accumulated wealth or fund in the event of his or her death, before that amount becomes payable or having become payable has not been paid. The nominee or nominees, as the case may be, shall be entitled, on the death of the subscriber, to receive, to the exclusion of all other persons, all such moneys which have so remained unpaid.”
The Subscribers must additionally include an online statement that states the following in the e-nomination “I understand and consent to that nomination being made by me now shall be invalid ab initio if it is not consistent with Regulation 32 of the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals) Regulations, 2015 and amendments”.
According to PFRDA “If you are making the nomination at the time of registering for PRAN, no charges will be levied to you. However, a subsequent request for nomination updation would be considered as a service request and you will be charged an amount of Rs. 20/- plus applicable service tax for each request.”
As per the guidelines set by PFRDA “You need to appoint a nominee at the time of opening of a NPS account in the prescribed section of the opening form. You can appoint up to 3 nominees for your NPS Tier I and NPS Tier II account. In such a case you are required to specify the percentage of your saving that you wish to allocate to each nominee. The share percentage across all nominees should collectively aggregate to 100%.”