Summary of this article
NPS Swasthya links pension with family health cover.
Sanchay Yatra aims to target informal workers.
NPS Central unifies all CRAs on one digital dashboard.
On the occasion of National Pension System (NPS) Diwas on October 1, 2026, the Pension Fund Regulator and Development Authority (PFRDA) introduced the NPS Swasthya scheme, NPS Sanchay Pension Yatra, and NPS Central digital portal. Together, these offerings aim for deeper outreach and scheme penetration and subscribers’ enhanced access to the schemes. Here is what these offerings have for you:
NPS Swasthya: Integrating Pensions with Health Cover
NPS Swasthya was piloted under a regulatory sandbox, and after a successful trial, it was officially launched on October 1, 2026. It is an integrated scheme that combines pension security with a standardised family floater super top-up health insurance. The scheme offers a default cover to the subscriber, spouse, and up to two dependent children. Parents are explicitly excluded from the family floater cover.
It offers four standardised combinations of annual deductibles (premium) and family floater sum insured limits. These are: Rs 10,000 deductible with a Rs 1 lakh sum insured, Rs 50,000 deductible with a Rs 5 lakh sum insured, Rs 1 lakh deductible with a Rs 10 lakh sum insured, and Rs 3 lakh deductible with a Rs 30 lakh sum insured.
Subscribers can withdraw up to 25 per cent of their contribution for outpatient (OPD) and inpatient (IPD) expenses without waiting periods or any limit on withdrawal frequency. To enroll under the scheme, they need to pay the first-year premium, Rs 1,000 minimum investment into the pension account, and an annual Health Benefit Administrator (HBA) fee of Rs 200 (plus taxes).
NPS Sanchay Yatra: Targeting The Informal Sector
This initiative is aimed at bringing more people under the NPS Sanchay coverage by reaching out to them. The first phase of NPS Sanchay Yatra was launched in four cities: Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. The yatra teams will travel across these states’ districts to help eligible citizens open an on-the-spot account through Tatkal NPS. There are 12 more such yatras planned over the next six months.
NPS Sanchay is designed to onboard people working in the informal sector, who constitute around 90 per cent of the total workforce of India. NPS Sanchay scheme was launched in June this year, with an aim to offer a simplified version of the scheme to informal sector workers by removing the complexities related to selecting investment options, asset allocation, etc.
Any Indian citizen between 18 and 85 years of age can open an account under the scheme through existing Points of Presence (PoPs), service providers, online via PFRDA’s platform, or through these NPS Sanchay Pension Yatra vans. The scheme requires a minimum initial contribution of Rs 250, and subsequent contributions starting at Rs 10.
NPS Central: A Unified Digital Platform
To make the scheme easily accessible for subscribers, PFRDA brought together all three central record-keeping agencies (CRAs): Protean, KFin Tech, and CAMS to launch NPS Central. The unified digital platform provides a single login and a consolidated dashboard across CRAs, on which subscribers can compare schemes, check schemes’ performance, update their personal details, profile, nomination, and banking details, as well as consult an AI assistant and manage contributions seamlessly.
