PFRDA: OTP based authentication extended for legacy NPS accounts also

PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
B- 4/A , Chhatrapat iShivaji Bhawan,
Qutub Institutional Area,
Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi-110016

CIRCULAR

CIR No.: PFRDA/2020/51/SUP-CRA/22

Date: December 3, 2020

To,

All Stake Holders under NPS

Subject: OTP based authentication for legacy NPS Accounts

Vide Circular no. PFROA/2020/23/SUP-CRA/10 dated 15.06.2020 PFRDA had allowed OTP based authentication to facilitate the opening of NPS accounts by prospective Subscribers through e NPS or by POPs with ease and in a paperless manner.

2. Now it has been decided by PFRDA to extend this facility of OTP based authentication for the legacy NPS Accounts also. Legacy Accounts are those accounts which were opened before the launch of OTP based authentication feature pursuant to the above mentioned Circular, by Central Record Keeping Agencies (CRAs) or Points of Presence (POPs) but physical forms with respect to these accounts are not yet received by CRAs.

3. This option shall be available only to eligible legacy accounts i.e. only those accounts in which e-mail IDs and/or mobile numbers are registered, provided that all other requirements under the Subscriber registration process as prescribed by the Authority, are complied with.

4. NPS Subscribers for whom the physical forms are not yet received at CRA are allowed to authenticate either through Aadhaar based e sign or OTP at the technology platform of either of the CRA or of the associated POPs. The guidelines 2(i & ii) on OTP issued by PFRDA vide its above mentioned Circular dt. 15th June 2020 are required to be complied with for carrying out OTP based authentication for legacy accounts.

5. Further, CRAs/POPs have to ensure that adequate monitoring mechanisms are in place if multiple NPS accounts have the same email id or same mobile number. Further, CRAs/POPs are advised to create awareness about the facility of OTP based authentication among the

Subscribers whose forms have not been received at CRAs so that such Accounts are regularized. The process flow of OTP based authentication is provided at Annexure.

6. This Circular is issued under Section 14 of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 and is placed under ‘Circulars’ in the CRA section of Intermediaries and under Circulars in the Regulatory Framework at PFRDA website.

Sd/-
(K. Mohan Gandhi)
General Manager

Annexure

To avail the facility of OTP based authentication at CRA platform, both the e-mail ID, as well as the Mobile Number of Subscribers, should be available in the records of CRA.

Process of OTP based authentication

A. Subscriber will log on to the websites of eNPS of the respective CRA.

B. Click on the button “National Pension System”

C. Click on the button “Registration”

D. Click on option “OTP Authentication/eSign.

E. Provide details submitted at the time of registration such as Acknowledgement No., Acknowledgement Date and Date of Birth or First Name, Date of Birth and Email Address.

F. OTP Authentication option will be displayed to the Subscriber along with “eSign”.

G Subscriber will select “OTP Authentication” option and will click on the “Generate OTP” button.

H. Two distinct OTPs will be delivered on the Mobile and Email ID respectively, of the Subscriber available in the CRA records. Subscriber will enter both OTPs to complete the process.