The National Pension System (NPS) is a government-assisted savings tool for retirement. To expedite fund transfers and eliminate intermediaries, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has recently enabled the Quick Response (QR) feature for Direct Remittance (D-Remit) via the United Payments Interface (UPI). So, NPS Payments Are Made Easy With UPI :QR-Based D-Remit Facility.

PFRDA introduced the D-Remit facility in 2020. The launch of the QR code on December 6, 2023, will enhance convenience in transferring funds from the subscribers’ bank accounts to the trustee bank. NPS accounts can be opened via the designated banks and post offices or online through the Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA). Payments are accepted offline and online.

The NPS subscribers can now use the QR code, unique to each subscriber, via any UPI application to make fast payments, allowing the members to receive the Net Asset Value (NAV) the same day, provided the trustee bank receives their NPS contributions by 9:30 am.

The PFRDA circular states that approximately 10 lakh D-Remit subscriber IDs have been created with a total contribution of around Rs 2,700 crore since the launch of the facility. Besides online transactions, the QR code can be saved offline for easy payment.

One must have a 15-digit unique D-Remit ID number to avail of this facility.

How to Create a D-Remit Virtual Account for NPS Payments? 

Subscribers can create their D-Remit account online with any of the three CRAs (CAMS CRA, KFin-CRA, and Protean CRA). They must also register it with the NPS Trust by providing the Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN), date of birth, the mode of receiving a one-time password (OTP), and the captcha code. Once confirmed, registration takes T+1 day. After that, they must add the virtual account as a beneficiary to their bank accounts via net banking, using the IFS code of the NPS trustee bank (Axis Bank, IFSC UTIB0CCH274) for fund transfers.

With the new QR-based payment option, logging in to net banking is not necessary. NPS payments can be made via a UPI QR code. Let us explore how to use the QR code for NPS payments.

QR Code Payment on CAMS CRA: Log in to the NPS account on the CAMS portal, click on “contribution”, and select “virtual account status”. Then, scan the QR code when it appears to pay using any UPI application.

QR Code Payment On Kfin-CRA: Log into the eNPS website and select “subsequent contribution” in the transaction menu. Choose UPI as the payment mode. After that, the QR code will appear, which they must scan to make the payment through any UPI app.

QR Code Payment on Protean CRA: Subscribers must visit the e-NPS contribution page and verify their details to log into their NPS account. After logging in, select “contribute online” in the transaction option and choose “same-day investment”. Upon selecting the option, a QR code will appear on the screen. Scan it through any UPI app and make the payment.