The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has introduced a new fee structure for National Pension System subscribers, effective October 1, 2026. The changes include standardized one-time onboarding costs and a new annual service charge of 0.20% on total assets, with exemptions for fully digital e-NPS users.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has announced a significant revision to the fee structure for National Pension System (NPS) subscribers, which will take effect on October 1, 2026. This move is designed to standardize the charges across different service providers, known as Points of Presence (PoPs), that help facilitate NPS registrations and services.
Under the new guidelines, subscribers who register through a PoP will be charged a one-time onboarding fee. This fee is set at ₹200 for physical, in-person registrations. For those who complete their registration entirely through digital, non-face-to-face channels, the fee is reduced to ₹100. Rather than asking subscribers to pay this amount upfront or via a separate transaction, the Central Recordkeeping Agencies will collect these fees through the cancellation of units in the subscriber's account at a rate of ₹50 per quarter until the full amount is recovered.
In addition to the one-time registration cost, PFRDA has introduced an annual service charge fixed at 0.20% of the total assets under management (AUM). This charge is calculated based on the total value of the subscriber’s pension wealth and will be recovered on a quarterly basis. The mechanism for this deduction is the same as the onboarding fee—the system will redeem a small number of units from the investor's portfolio to cover the charge. This means that, unlike an explicit bill, the fee will reflect as a slight reduction in the total number of units held in the account.
It is important for investors to note that these charges do not apply to all subscribers. Individuals who use the e-NPS platform for both their initial registration and subsequent contributions remain exempt from PoP-related service charges. However, if an account was originally opened through a PoP, it will continue to attract these fees, even if the subscriber later switches to using e-NPS or D-Remit for managing their account.
The regulator has also clarified that dormant accounts, which are defined as accounts that have not received contributions for four consecutive quarters, will be exempt from the annual 0.20% AUM charge. This change aims to ensure that subscribers with inactive accounts are not penalized by asset-based deductions.
For long-term investors, the introduction of an annual AUM-based fee marks a shift toward a more transparent, service-oriented cost model. While these fees help compensate the service providers managing the accounts, they will result in a marginal reduction in the net corpus over time. Investors may want to track their account statements closely after the third quarter of the 2026-27 financial year to see how these unit cancellations impact their unit holdings and long-term retirement planning.