India pension system reforms

In early August 2026, India’s Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) introduced an online utility to assign permanent 12‑digit Regular Pension Payment Order (PPO) numbers to retirees under the National Pension System – AR (NPS‑AR). The tool replaces provisional numbers and streamlines the migration of pension cases to authorized disbursing banks, with guidance issued to all relevant accounting offices.

A day later, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) issued a circular expanding the categories of entities that can act as Points of Presence (PoPs) pension agents, adding cluster‑based business organisations, co‑operative societies, unions and federations, subject to stricter due‑diligence. The same circular extended the same‑day investment cut‑off for NPS contributions from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM, applying to all contribution channels and ensuring contributions received by the new deadline are processed on the day’s closing Net Asset Value.