Summary of this article
PFRDA appoints Bank of Baroda and Bajaj Life as fund sponsors.
Motilal Oswal and Parag Parikh set up new pension funds.
Bank of Baroda adds Tatkal NPS to BHIM App for quick setup.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has formally appointed Bank of Baroda and Bajaj Life Insurance as sponsors of pension fund. This is the first step in the public sector lender and the insurer’s entry into the pension fund business. They received the Certificate of Appointment as sponsors of a Pension Fund under Section 27 of the PFRDA Act, 2013, at the NPS Diwas event on October 1.
The NPS Diwas 2026 event brought together key stakeholders across the financial sector. During the event, the certificate of appointment was officially presented by Sanjay Lohiya, secretary, Department of Financial Services, in the presence of PFRDA chairperson S Ramann and NPS Trust chairperson Dinesh Kumar Khara.
PFRDA welcomed newly appointed sponsors, including Bank of Baroda and Bajaj Life Insurance, and new pension funds Motilal Oswal and Parag Parikh. This formal handover of the certificate follows PFRDA’s initial selection in July 2026, when the regulator approved Bank of Baroda, Bajaj, and Motilal Oswal AMC as sponsors of the fund under the PFRDA’s revised guidelines.
The regulator also approved Parag Parikh months back in February this year. Under PFRDA’s revised guidelines, applications were invited from institutions for managing National Pension System (NPS) assets across both government and non-government schemes.
The expansion comes in the wake of PFRDA’s aim to broaden the national pension ecosystem and enhance its penetration among people. It is not just focusing on onboarding more subscribers, but also on enhancing participation by providing subscribers with information about the scheme in a simple and transparent manner, and giving them tools to compare and make an informed decision while investing their money in NPS.
Bank of Baroda, in addition to receiving the sponsor certificate, onboarded Tatkal NPS on the BHIM App for customers’ faster onboarding under the second phase rollout of the digital onboarding facility.
With the integration of Tatkal NPS on the BHIM App, an applicant’s NPS account can be opened directly from the BHIM Platform only. This simple three-click onboarding process is expected to give a boost to the overall reach and seamless digital onboarding.
The appointment of new sponsors and pension funds reflects PFRDA’s updated regulatory framework, which permits any qualified sponsor who meets prescribed eligibility criteria to apply to establish a pension fund at any time. The guideline encourages participation. PFRDA has also amended its pension fund registration guidelines, enabling scheduled commercial banks that meet the market capitalisation criteria to establish a pension fund.
