PENSION FUND REGULATORY AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
PFRDA/2015/06/EXIT/01
25th February, 2015
To,
All Govt depts./PAO’s/DDO/ POP’s/Aggregators & CRA & other stakeholders
Dear Sir/ Madam,
SUB : Facility for Online Withdrawal Process in CRA System for submission of NPS Claims
With a view to simplifying and streamlining the exit and withdrawal claims, the Central Record keeping Agency, NSDL e-governance services Ltd has developed the first phase of the functionality to process Withdrawal Request for subscribers exiting NPS. In order to facilitate and expedite the process for settlement of the withdrawal claims of the subscribers of National Pension System (NPS), it has been decided that all the nodal offices (PAO’s/DDO/ POP’s/Aggregators etc) shall process the withdrawal claims of their underlying subscribers on the online platform being made available on the CRA system. The processing of all withdrawal claims on online mode shall be mandatory from 01st April, 2015. During the interregnum period i.e., from date of this circular till 31st March, 2015, CRA M/s NSDL e-governance Services Ltd, would provide the required support through guidance and training of the nodal offices(PAO’s/DDO/ POP’s/Aggregators etc), so that the advantages of the web enabled withdrawal /exit functionality can be used effectively to the full extent.
This functionality has been made available through the website of CRA and can be initiated at any of the levels of any of the functionaries as below:
A. At Nodal Offices (PAO/DDO/POP/Aggregator) – W hen the applicant her/himself does not files an online withdrawal/exit application but submits the physical application, nodal Offices will key in the particulars and initiate (capture, verify and submit) the withdrawal requests in CRA system under all the three categories (Exit due to Superannuation/attainment of 60 years, exit before the age of Superannuation/attainment of 60 years and exit due to Death)
B. For Subscribers – In case of Superannuation/attainment of 60 years, exit before the age of Superannuation/attainment of 60 years, the subscribers can also initiate withdrawal requests in the CRA system which shall subsequently have to be verified by the Nodal Office(PAO/DDO/POP/Aggregator) in CRA system, before it is considered and finally disposed off by the NPS Trust.
The Nodal Offices are requested to note that:
Once the withdrawal request is generated by the subscriber or Nodal office, the physical withdrawal request (print out of the form generated from the CRA system after submission of request) should be duly signed by the subscriber along with his photograph. The Nodal office shall certify the KYC Documents and other relevant supporting documents of the subscriber/claimant.
The Withdrawal form shall be forwarded by the Nodal Office after the certification to NPS Claims Processing Cell at CRA. The Checklist of the documents collected is enclosed as Annexure II.
If the physical withdrawal request for a subscriber has already been forwarded earlier to CRA for processing, the Nodal Office is not required to raise any further request in the CRA system.
Important features of the online Claims Processing:
1. In case of superannuating subscribers, Claim IDs will be generated six months prior to the date of superannuation / attaining the age of 60 years of age. Nodal Offices will be able to initiate the withdrawal request for subscriber superannuating in the CRA system for all such cases where Claim ID has been generated.
2. If request is initiated by the subscriber, the Nodal Office has to authorise the same in CRA system.
3. Nodal Office will be able to initiate the request in the CRA system even for those PRANs which have superannuated earlier (as Claim IDs have also been generated for all such subscribers as an onetime exercise.)
4. In case of subscribers who have expired (and claimants have requested withdrawal) or requested for premature exit, Nodal Offices will generate Claim IDs after submitting the request in the CRA system.
Further Nodal Offices are required to send only the Withdrawal Requests generated from the CRA (post submission of the request in the CRA system) to CRA (at following address) for processing along with the necessary supporting documents. The process is applicable for processing of the lump sum amount (60%, 20%) while the purchase of annuity shall take place on manual basis as per existing guidelines till the online annuity purchase system is in place.
Subscribers who wish to defer the purchase of Annuity (PFRDA circular dated September 17, 2013, a copy of which is enclosed for reference), a separate physical request signed by the subscriber and counter signed by the Nodal Office may be forwarded along with the Withdrawal Request form. Further, in case a subscriber wishes to exercise the option of complete Withdrawal where total NPS corpus is less than Rs. 2 lakh (please refer to PFRDA circular dated October 23, 2013, a copy of which is enclosed for reference), a physical request may be forwarded to CRA along with the Withdrawal Request in the format provided in the aforesaid PFRDA circular. In case the requests for deferred Annuity or complete withdrawal due to insufficient corpus are not received along with the Withdrawal request but separately, the requests may not be entertained.
The detailed process is present under Annexure I and the same has already been sent to the Nodal Offices vide CRA’s Circular No: CRA/PO & RI/Master/2013/005 dated 13th Nov, 2013.
In case of any further clarification on the subject including the processing of withdrawal requests online, you may contact Mr. Sarvdeep Singh at 022-24994512 (E-mail ID – sarvdeeps@nsdl.co.in) or Mr. Sudhanshu Shekhar at 022-24994862 (Email ID- sudhanshus@nsdl.co.in).
Yours faithfully,
SD/-
Venkateswarlu Peri
General Manager
SOURCE: PFRDA [http://pfrda.org.in/MyAuth/Admin/showimg.cshtml?ID=582]