NPS withdrawal rule change, subscribers wont be able to self-declare

Employees of the central, state, and central autonomous bodies who are National Pension System (NPS) subscribers will no longer be able to self-declare a partial withdrawal from their NPS account.

The Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA) issued a circular on December 23, 2022, which this follows. All government sector subscribers are now required to submit their requests for partial withdrawal through the relevant nodal authorities.

The pension fund authority had let government sector subscribers to make partial withdrawals from NPS accounts through self-declaration during the COVID epidemic. The choice was made at a time when several states asked the regulator to reimburse their employees' pension funds. The states want to reinstate the previous pension plan (OPS).
The PFRDA stated in its circular that it has been decided to make it mandatory for all government sector subscribers (central/state governments and central/state autonomous bodies) to submit their requests through their associated nodal offices due to the easing of pandemic-related difficulties and the relaxation of lockdown restrictions.

In order to protect subscribers' interests and lessen the load on nodal officers, including POPs from verification and authorisation, PFRDA issued a circular in January 2021 allowing partial withdrawals under NPS through self-declaration for the benefit of subscribers.

For voluntary non-government subscribers, there is no modification to the norm regarding the partial withdrawal option by self-declaration.

The NPS regulator stated, "The subscribers belonging to the voluntary segment of the NPS (All citizens and corporate) may continue to use the process as specified in the quoted circular.

According to the website of a central recordkeeping agency (CRA), Protean, eGov Technologies Limited, the following prerequisites must be met for partial withdrawal: