Summary of this article
PFRDA plans mobile-based NPS onboarding of workers in the e-Shram database.
Subscribers can contribute to pension accounts via UPI payments.
Separately, the regulator is developing a guaranteed pension product and NPS Swasthya products.
Those workers who are registered in the e-Shram database may soon get easier access to the National Pension System (NPS) scheme, as the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) plans to develop a technology-led mechanism enabling workers to register for pension schemes via their mobile phones. The authority is designing a technology-based mechanism under which workers would be able to open pension accounts directly through their mobile phones, announced PFRDA Chairperson S. Ramann on Thursday while speaking at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.
This regulatory effort is aimed at expanding accessibility of pension schemes among the vast informal workforce in the country that doesn’t get a regular monthly salary and doesn’t pay income tax. PFRDA aims to bring in millions of these unorganised sector workers into the formal social security umbrella by providing them direct access to the scheme through mobile phones.
According to the E-Shram portal, 31.95 crore workers are registered on the portal as of September 11, 2026. The portal was developed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment to create a comprehensive database of unorganised sector workers and link it with Aadhaar to directly transfer social security and other benefits. The pension regulator aims to leverage this database and expand pension coverage to them.
Ramann said that the database already has much of the information required to open an NPS account, and by enabling a simple, mobile-based, few-click onboarding process, these workers can easily be registered for the scheme.
Once a pension account is opened through this process, the subscribers can make contributions through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). So, this process flow will also align with the government’s vision of a UPI-style pension account system, similar to PFRDA’s NPS Tatkal initiative that operates through UPI providers.
Further, to make the product easy to understand across socio-economic demographics, the regulator plans to offer the mobile account service in multiple Indian languages to make the product user-friendly.
Separately, PFRDA is working on designing a guaranteed-return pension product for the non-government sector. Ramann reiterated that PFRDA is working on a guaranteed-return scheme fulfilling a mandatory requirement under its governing Act. An expert committee has also been formed to evaluate the possible product options and financial frameworks.
In providing a guaranteed-return pension product for non-government subscribers, the key challenge is to determine who would actually provide the financial guarantee, unlike the Unified Pension Account (UPS) for government sector employees, which has a built-in guarantee mechanism. UPS guarantees an assured pension, but because it is for government employees only, its guarantee mechanism is different.
In addition to this, PFRDA plans to launch another scheme, NPS Swasthya, which would allow subscribers to set aside some money in the NPS account to pay their hospitalisation expenses, and a top-up insurance facility will cover the remaining amount. The health-oriented pension product is expected to get the final regulatory guidelines in the next few days and is likely to be rolled out soon after.
