The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has outlined an artificial intelligence roadmap to redesign the National Pension Scheme's onboarding process while encouraging responsible AI use for pension advisory platforms. PFRDA Chairman S Ramann announced at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology's conference that the regulator is redesigning the NPS onboarding process by simplifying enrolment and reducing choices at the entry stage. The authority is developing an AI-powered explainable pension advisory platform to provide personalised financial guidance, which will eventually expand to include insurance and securities, making trusted financial advice more accessible to citizens. As per Mint, Ramann emphasized that the regulator is 'encouraging the use of explainable and responsible AI, ensuring that recommendations remain transparent and auditable to build public trust in digital financial services'. The platform will promote multilingual, AI-enabled financial assistance to enable citizens to interact with advisory systems in their preferred languages.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has launched NPS PRIDE-DISHA, a digital toolkit designed to help National Pension System subscribers compare historical pension fund performance before selecting or switching fund managers. According to PFRDA, the toolkit has been introduced as investment options and the number of pension funds under the NPS continues to expand. The regulator aims to provide a simple, transparent and subscriber-centric way to compare pension fund performance and investment choices, enabling subscribers to make informed decisions. NPS PRIDE-DISHA, short for Pension Fund Returns for Informed Decision & Empowerment, is now available to all NPS subscribers through the PFRDA website and has been directed to be accessible during pension fund selection and switching through Central Recordkeeping Agencies (CRAs), Points of Presence (PoPs) and nodal offices. In a circular dated July 14, PFRDA advised all CRAs to ensure the link to the NPS PRIDE-Disha tool should be made available through the nodal office interface and subscriber login portal during the scheme/pension fund selection or switching process. The tool has been developed in exercise of PFRDA's statutory powers under the PFRDA Act, 2013, fulfilling multiple statutory obligations including ensuring safety of contributions, promoting professional organizations, commissioning research studies, and educating subscribers.
PFRDA noted that NPS subscribers have traditionally assessed pension funds based on point-to-point returns of individual schemes such as Equity (E), Corporate Bonds (C) and Government Securities (G). However, these metrics may not accurately reflect the investment experience of subscribers who make regular contributions over a long period. Since subscribers invest across different asset classes in a defined proportion, the regulator identified a need for a more meaningful comparison tool that considers the entire investment journey rather than isolated returns. Unlike traditional return comparisons that show performance between two dates, the tool uses the Extended Internal Rate of Return (XIRR) methodology to estimate how an investor making regular contributions over time would have fared under different pension funds and investment choices. PFRDA clarified that the tool is based entirely on historical NAV data and does not provide future projections or assumption-based estimates. The latest development introduces SIP returns calculation capability alongside the existing XIRR methodology, allowing subscribers to track their systematic investment plan performance across different pension funds. The tool utilizes nearly 5,000 days of historical NAV data dating back to 2008 and applies the Extended Internal Rate of Return (XIRR) methodology to assess pension fund performance from a subscriber's perspective. PFRDA stated that most NPS subscribers contribute periodically over several years rather than investing a lump sum, making point-to-point returns inadequate for assessing their actual investment experience.
PFRDA Chairman S Ramann confirmed the 'upcoming' launch of NPS Swasthya, a bundled pension and health insurance product designed to strengthen citizens' financial and health security. As per Mint, NPS Swasthya seeks to combine user's dedicated health savings account with a group top-up health insurance policy arranged by pension fund managers for subscribers. The product is designed to help cover large hospitalisation expenses, particularly those arising from critical or catastrophic illnesses, while reducing insurance costs through group buying. The scheme is expected to see 22% growth in subscribers this year and currently has 2.17 crore subscribers with a total corpus of ₹15.95 lakh crore, who are expected to benefit from the regulator's decisions. Ramann stated that the regulator has set up a panel to explore options for long-term addition of different asset classes to the NPS, aiming to increase returns for pensioners. 'We have to look at new assets which can provide continuous and steady growth over a long period of time without volatility... We cannot show a very high return in one year, and after that, it drops off. That volatility we need to avoid,' he stated. The panel will take key learnings from global pension funds and suggest a 'glide path' to ensure better returns for NPS subscribers.
NPS PRIDE-DISHA offers comprehensive features including return calculation using the XIRR methodology, evaluation of historical performance based on subscriber-specific parameters such as age, investment commencement date, contribution amount and investment choice. The tool supports Composite Schemes, Active Choice and Auto Choice investment options, provides like-for-like comparison across pension funds, and simulates retirement wealth accumulation under different pension funds and investment choices. The platform currently offers around 4,800 investment combinations using more than 1.1 lakh historical NAV data points and allows subscribers to compare pension funds based on contribution patterns that are closer to how NPS investments are made in practice. Market-Wide Benchmarking displays performance of all eligible pension funds for contextual comparison, while Visual Insights present corpus accumulation and return comparisons clearly through bar charts. The tool also provides Corpus Amount Display showing the final accumulated corpus at maturity, calculated using actual contributions, NAV growth, and compounding. Subscribers can access the tool through the PFRDA website via the PRIDE portal (https://pfrda.org.in/pride-calculator) by entering their month and year of birth, investment start date and monthly contribution amount. The platform presents performance outcomes in a simple and intuitive bar graph format, helping subscribers identify significant retirement wealth creators by evaluating historical performance in a choice-specific manner rather than only scheme-wise, point-to-point returns.
PFRDA plans to expand the toolkit by adding features such as Tier II returns, NPS Vatsalya schemes, MSF schemes, and rolling and trailing returns for different investment choices. The regulator has developed an API for programmatic access that enables entities to integrate the tool's core functionalities into their own platforms for advanced analytics, custom dashboards, and subscriber-centric applications. The historical NAV database, comprising nearly 5,000 days of verified daily NAV data across all Pension Funds since 2008, provides a rich dataset for quantitative analysis, back-testing of investment strategies, and comparative performance assessment. PFRDA invites entities with genuine interest in leveraging this data to submit proposals through a structured framework that ensures data security, integrity, and responsible usage. The API is designed as a secure RESTful interface with appropriate attribution requirements and governance provisions similar to existing external data request processes. By enabling stakeholders to harness this data for innovation, PFRDA aims to foster a vibrant NPS analytical ecosystem that enhances transparency, drives informed subscriber choice, and contributes to the continuous improvement of the NPS framework. Ramann called for greater collaboration among regulators, academia, designers and startups to develop simpler, more inclusive financial products and strengthen financial inclusion across the country.
