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Is NPS Making Its Way Into The Corporate Sector? Here Is What The Data Says

The subscribers in the National Pension System (NPS) were around 1.7 crore as of March 31, 2025, reflecting a growth of around 12 per cent over the year

National Pension System (NPS) corporate subscribers grew around 17 per cent YoY Photo: AI Generated

The National Pension Scheme (NPS) was extended to the corporate sector in December 2011. NPS was introduced first for central government employees in 2004 as a mandatory scheme for retirement planning, for all citizens in 2009, and later in 2011 for corporates or employers in the private sector. Since then, subscribers have been growing in the scheme but not as much as the all-citizen model.

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A Brief About NPS And Other Retirement Pension Schemes

Since the introduction of the National Pension System (NPS), the retirement planning landscape has gone through significant changes. Unlike other retirement pension schemes, where contribution depends on employment, such as the Employee Provident Fund (EPF), or in which one can enter until 40 years of age, like Atal Pension Yojana (APY), NPS is designed to be more inclusive. It is available not only to people who are employed but also to the self-employed and is not limited to people aged up to 40. One can contribute to NPS up to 70 years of age.

However, compared to the EPF, which offers a guaranteed interest on the corpus, and APY, which guarantees a fixed pension, NPS does not guarantee anything.

NPS Growth YoY: What Data Says

Compared to other existing schemes for retirement planning, NPS is one of the most flexible schemes in India and has been gaining ground in other models besides the government subscription model.

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Total Growth As Of March 31, 2025 

• The growth in the total number of subscribers, including APY, is around 14 per cent to 8.5 crore over the previous year. The highest one-year growth (around 18 per cent) has been in the all-citizen model over one year, followed by the corporate and government model

• The total contribution in both NPS and APY has risen to Rs 10,37,813 crore, with a 28 per cent YoY growth

• The total pension assets under management (AUM) for both NPS and APY have increased by 23 per cent to Rs 14,43,509 crore

Corporate Model Growth

• Corporate subscribers have grown by around 17 per cent YoY to 22.75 lakh, compared to an approximately 7 per cent increase to 98.58 lakh in government subscribers

• AUM grew by around 31 per cent to Rs 2,18,550 crore

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• The contribution increased to Rs 1,52,190 crore, indicating around 27 per cent growth since March 31, 2024

Notably, corporate subscribers account for 2.75 per cent of total subscribers, but their contribution and AUM each represent around 15 per cent of the total.

Considering the large number of private companies and acceptance of the scheme among the masses, NPS may grow further, especially in the corporate model, due to employer tax benefits available in the new tax scheme, with financial awareness among employees and the willingness of employers.

Recently, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) former chairperson Deepak Mohanty said that while growth in the number of NPS and APY subscribers looks promising (1.67 crore subscribers in NPS and around 8.5 crore including APY subscribers), it is modest in the context of the working-age population in India, which is 99 crore as per the United Nation estimates.

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