Only online withdrawals of pensions from April 2016: Pension regulator

New Delhi: Pension fund regulator PFRDA has made it mandatory for the subscribers of New Pension System (NPS) to submit applications online for settlement of withdrawal claims from April 1 next year.

According to a PFRDA directive, no request in physical form would be entertained with effect from April 1, 2016. "It has...Been decided that with effect from April 1, 2016 only such withdrawal requests raised on online platform will be accepted at CRA (Central Recordkeeping Agency) system for further processing.

"Physical withdrawal request forms received at CRA will not be accepted for further processing," the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority said.

NSDL is the CRA for the NPS. A subscriber can exit NPS due to superannuation, premature exit and death.

PFRDA said it is committed to support the 'Digital India' campaign of the government and efforts were being made to make various NPS related services available on online platform.

Making withdrawal process online wherein subscribers can raise withdrawal request using online platform is one of the such initiatives, it said.

"This will make withdrawal process paperless to a great extent and seamless and exit claims of the subscribers can be settled in least possible time," it said.

NPS has been implemented for all government employees (except armed forces) joining Central Government on or after January 1, 2004.

Most of the State/UT Governments have also notified the NPS for their new employees. NPS has been made available to every Indian Citizen from May 2009 on a voluntary basis.

Further, from June 2015, the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), has been launched which has given the much required impetus to the social security schemes.

NPS and APY together have more than one crore subscribers with total Asset Under Management of more than Rs 1 lakh crore.

Meanwhile the retirement fund body EPFO is also in the process of providing facility of filing PF withdrawal claims online with an ultimate aim to process such applications with 24 hours of receiving it.