PFRDA chairperson S Ramann says NPS should be plugged into employer payrolls alongside Employees’ Provident Fund contributions as the regulator seeks to expand coverage and unlock pension capital for infrastructure.
Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority chairperson S Ramann has said National Pension System contributions should be easy to plug into company payroll systems, allowing workers to save for retirement through salary deductions alongside Employees’ Provident Fund contributions. Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2026 in Mumbai, Ramann argued that the technical task should be modest for employers and software providers, and said the regulator was already in talks with several human resources management software companies to make the process work.
Ramann drew a comparison with the scale of India’s digital payments network, saying that if the Unified Payments Interface can serve tens of crores of users, payroll integration for NPS ought to be relatively simple. His broader message was that pension saving should become as routine as other employee deductions, especially for people in the non-government sector, where retirement coverage remains far thinner than among government workers.
The PFRDA chief said the task now is to expand NPS far beyond its current base. When he took charge in June 2025, he said, the non-government segment had 7.2 million NPS accounts, a figure that had risen by about 2.2 million over the following year. He said distribution, collection, investment and the eventual payout of retirement savings are the main areas that still need work if the system is to reach “several crore” subscribers.
Ramann also pointed to the Atal Pension Yojana, the state-backed scheme aimed at workers outside formal retirement plans. He said the regulator is studying whether its payouts can be improved, including whether the fixed pension promise could be adjusted for inflation. At present, the scheme has around 90 million subscribers, and PFRDA wants to broaden its reach further.
Beyond payroll access, Ramann said pension money could play a larger role in funding India’s infrastructure build-out. Reporting from The Economic Times and Financial Express has recently said PFRDA is exploring more direct exposure to large projects, potentially moving beyond the current use of infrastructure investment trusts. Ramann said pension savings are a form of long-duration capital and, with the right safeguards and expertise, could support assets after construction as well as during development. He also said the regulator has started allocating some NPS money to alternative investment funds, while signalling that retirement products may need more flexibility if they are to generate better income and last longer as life expectancy rises.
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