NPS Government Entity: The Flat Rs 500 PoP Charge Explained

If you are a government employee or a DDO handling NPS, here is the one number that matters now: Rs 500 per subscriber per year. That is the flat charge a government entity pays to a Point of Presence (PoP) service provider to keep running its NPS operations, under a PFRDA circular dated 16 June 2026. This page explains what the charge covers, who pays it, and how you can use RTI to check what your department is deducting and remitting.

Earlier in 2026, PFRDA had told government entities to interact directly with the Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) platform on their own, without a PoP. Many entities said they could not manage this. The 16 June 2026 circular reverses that.

• Before (March 2026 framework): A qualifying government entity was expected to have the technical capacity to deal with the CRA directly and handle NPS servicing in-house.
• After (16 June 2026 circular): A government entity may continue to use a PoP for NPS servicing, and pays a flat charge of Rs 500 per subscriber per year for it.

NPS is regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority under the PFRDA Act, 2013. PFRDA sets the rules for intermediaries, including Points of Presence, through circulars issued under that Act.

The relevant instrument here is Circular No. PFRDA/2026/35/P&DCORP/01 dated 16 June 2026, titled “Compliance towards Government Entity Criteria and applicability of Flat charge structure for availing PoP services by such entity(s).” It is addressed to NPS intermediaries including Points of Presence, the CRA, pension funds, the custodian and the NPS Trust.

How government-entity NPS and PoP servicing works, in plain terms:

• A Point of Presence (PoP) is the front-office that does the day-to-day NPS work for subscribers: opening accounts, uploading contributions, processing change requests and withdrawals.
• A government entity here means an organisation that has been brought under mandatory NPS for its employees from a notified date, that moves its superannuation assets into the NPS architecture within the given period, and that has the operational set-up for subscriber management.
• Instead of the entity building all this capacity in-house, the 16 June 2026 circular lets it pay a fixed Rs 500 per subscriber a year to a PoP and continue as before.

1. Confirm your status. Check whether your organisation is classified as a “government entity” under the PFRDA criteria and whether it currently uses a PoP.
2. Decide on the PoP arrangement. If you want to keep PoP servicing, note that the flat charge is now Rs 500 per subscriber per year under the 16 June 2026 circular.
3. Fix the payment mode. The entity can pay the consolidated PoP charge directly (employer-paid), or recover it from subscriber accounts through periodic unit deduction (subscriber-paid). Decide and record which model applies.
4. Tell your subscribers. If the charge is recovered from subscriber accounts, employees should be informed so they understand the deduction.
5. Update your records. Make sure the DDO and payroll records reflect the correct PoP, the Rs 500 flat charge, and the remittance path to the CRA.
6. Keep proof. Retain the circular reference, PoP agreement and remittance statements so any deduction can be reconciled later.

The charge is payable to the PoP. In practice it can be borne in two ways:

• Employer-paid: The government entity pays the consolidated PoP charge directly.
• Subscriber-paid: The entity recovers the cost from subscriber accounts through periodic unit deduction.

If you are an employee and you see an NPS-related deduction you do not understand, this is exactly where an RTI to your DDO or department is useful.

As a government employee, you can use the Right to Information Act, 2005 to ask your own DDO or department how your NPS money is being handled. This is legitimate because it concerns deductions from your salary and their remittance.

You can ask, for example:

• The total NPS amount deducted from your salary for a given period, month by month.
• Whether any PoP charge (including the Rs 500 flat charge) has been deducted from your account, and under what authority.
• The dates on which your NPS contributions were remitted to the CRA, with reference numbers.
• The name of the PoP servicing your entity and a copy of the internal order adopting the 16 June 2026 flat-charge arrangement.

You can draft this in minutes with the AI RTI Draft tool. If the reply is late or evasive, use the First Appeal tool and check your deadlines with the RTI Timeline Calculator. Before you accept a weak reply, run it through the PIO Reply Checker.

• Thinking the Rs 500 covers everything. It covers only PoP services. Other NPS intermediary charges are separate.
• Assuming it is per month. It is a flat charge per subscriber, per year.
• Not recording the payment model. Employer-paid and subscriber-paid have different effects on the employee; the entity must decide and document which applies.
• Ignoring the circular reference. Always quote PFRDA/2026/35/P&DCORP/01 dated 16 June 2026 when you seek clarity or file an RTI.
• Not verifying remittance. A deduction is only half the story; check that the money actually reached the CRA.

It is Rs 500 per subscriber per year, payable to the Point of Presence, under PFRDA circular PFRDA/2026/35/P&DCORP/01 dated 16 June 2026.

Routine PoP servicing: account opening, uploading subscriber data, contribution processing, fund manager and scheme changes, nomination updates, partial-withdrawal handling and similar subscriber transactions.

It does not cover fees payable to other NPS intermediaries such as the CRA, pension funds, custodian and trust. It is only the PoP service charge.

The government entity can pay it directly (employer-paid), or recover it from subscriber accounts through periodic unit deduction (subscriber-paid).

The arrangement is effective from 16 June 2026, immediately.

An earlier 2026 framework asked government entities to deal with the CRA directly without a PoP. Many reported operational difficulties, so PFRDA allowed continued use of PoP services on a flat-fee basis.

Yes. As a government employee you can file an RTI with your DDO or department under the RTI Act, 2005 asking for your month-wise NPS deductions, any PoP charge deducted, and the CRA remittance dates.

The PFRDA Act, 2013 governs NPS and its intermediaries; the specific charge is set by the 16 June 2026 PFRDA circular.

• PFRDA Circular No. PFRDA/2026/35/P&DCORP/01 dated 16 June 2026, “Compliance towards Government Entity Criteria and applicability of Flat charge structure for availing PoP services by such entity(s)” - PFRDA active circulars, pfrda.org.in
• PFRDA Act, 2013
• Business Today, “PFRDA allows government entities to continue using NPS PoP services for Rs 500 annual fee” (24 June 2026)
• Outlook Money, “PFRDA Relaxes NPS Rules For Government Entities, Allows Continued Use Of PoP Services”

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