Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Chairman S. Ramann said on 4 November 2026 that National Pension System (NPS) assets under management could reach about ₹100 lakh crore by 2040, with commercial banks and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) rails set to accelerate enrolment beyond organic market growth.
Speaking at a PFRDA Tatkal NPS digital inclusion conference in Mumbai, Ramann said the regulator wants to use India’s existing digital banking and payments stack to bring more citizens into long-term retirement savings.
How PFRDA plans bank and UPI NPS enrolment
PFRDA is working on seamless NPS onboarding through UPI so customers can open pension accounts on digital banking and payment platforms with minimal bank-side intervention. Basic details such as a mobile number and date of birth would help trigger account opening on top of KYC already held by banks.
“We are saying that there is zero cost to a bank to acquire a customer,” Ramann said, adding that new NPS accounts could flow through existing digital channels without large additional manpower or infrastructure. The regulator wants banks to become a major distribution channel—building on earlier bank-led digital NPS platforms such as Bank of India’s UPI-supported NPS partnership with KFintech.
The bank-and-UPI push also sits alongside product-level digital onboarding already live in the market, including PhonePe’s Tatkal NPS account opening with ₹250 via UPI and existing bank KYC.
Why distribution economics and investment options matter
PFRDA has also been reshaping the economics of pension distribution. Ramann said revenues of the top 10 Points of Presence (PoPs) have risen four to five times after commission-structure changes introduced from 1 January 2026. That reset runs in parallel with recent rule updates such as revised NPS scheme naming and PoP display norms from 1 December.
On the investment side, the regulator is moving toward differentiated schemes and asset allocation for government employees, informal-sector workers and financially sophisticated investors. Ramann said subscribers with the understanding and capacity to manage risk should have the option of higher equity exposure, including up to 100 per cent in equity-oriented schemes.
Beyond existing exposure to real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), PFRDA is evaluating wider deployment into unlisted equity, project finance and greenfield and brownfield projects.
Why it matters for digital pension inclusion
Ramann linked faster NPS expansion to longevity risk and the need for adequate post-retirement income. India’s UPI rails already move record retail volumes—including a fresh high of 25.47 billion UPI transactions in October 2026—while specialist platforms continue to extend UPI into smaller banks, as seen with OneStack’s funding to scale cooperative-bank UPI rails.
PFRDA’s stated aim is to convert that digital reach into pension coverage: zero-cost digital acquisition for banks, UPI-triggered enrolment for customers, stronger PoP economics, and a broader investment menu as the corpus scales toward the ₹100 lakh crore horizon.
Key takeaways
- PFRDA sees NPS AUM at about ₹100 lakh crore by 2040 if bank distribution and UPI enrolment scale as planned.
- Digital onboarding would reuse banking and UPI rails, with mobile number and date of birth aiding account opening and zero-cost acquisition pitched to banks.
- Top-10 PoP revenues have risen 4–5x after January 2026 commission changes; investment options may widen to unlisted equity, project finance and greenfield/brownfield assets.
FAQ
What AUM target did PFRDA outline for NPS?
Chairman S. Ramann estimated NPS assets under management could reach around ₹100 lakh crore by 2040, based on India’s need for long-term savings in a growing economy.
How would UPI help NPS enrolment?
PFRDA is designing seamless enrolment so customers can open NPS accounts through digital banking and payment platforms using existing UPI and bank infrastructure, with limited manual intervention.
For official scheme information, see the National Pension System overview on the PFRDA website. Facts in this report are drawn from PTI coverage of Ramann’s 4 November 2026 remarks in Mumbai.
Featured image: PFRDA Chairman S. Ramann addressing an Atal Pension Yojana felicitation programme in New Delhi on 25 August 2025. Photo: IANS/PIB
