Central Recordkeeping Agency
Also written CRA · Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) · Central Record-keeping Agency · NPS recordkeeper
The intermediary that holds every NPS subscriber record — it issues the PRAN, unitises contributions at scheme NAV and sits between the subscriber, the pension funds and the trustee bank.
In plain language
The National Pension System is deliberately unbundled: no single entity does everything. The CRA is the piece that remembers who you are and what you own.
It does not manage your money — pension funds do that. It does not hold your money — the trustee bank does that. It does not hold the securities — the custodian does that. What the CRA does is maintain the account, issue the PRAN, convert every rupee of contribution into units at the day's NAV, and pass instructions to everyone else.
The workbook calls it the core intermediary of the NPS, and the subscriber chooses which one to use.
How it works
Three CRAs operate the NPS: Protean eGov Technologies, KFin Technologies and Computer Age Management Services (CAMS). A subscriber opening online through eNPS picks the CRA directly; through a Point of Presence, the PoP chooses, and every PoP must publish all CRAs and their charges on its website or app.
The workbook lists the CRA's functions, of which these are examinable:
- Generating the PRAN and maintaining the PRAN database and every transaction against it
- Issuing the PRAN card, User-ID, I-PIN and T-PIN
- Unitising contributions based on scheme NAV and routing instructions to the trustee bank and pension funds
- Sending the annual pension account statement within 2 months of the end of the financial year
- Running the Central Grievance Management System (CGMS)
- Processing exit and withdrawal requests, and coordinating with the trustee bank and the annuity service provider
- Servicing changes of scheme, fund manager, demographic detail and nomination
A worked example
A private-sector subscriber opens a Tier-I account online and asks for a physical PRAN card.
| Charge | Amount |
|---|---|
| CRA — PRAN opening, physical card | Rs 40 (Rs 18 for an electronic PRAN kit) |
| CRA — per-transaction charge | Nil |
| CRA — annual maintenance, private sector | Rs 0 to Rs 500 by Tier-I corpus slab |
For comparison the workbook gives Rs 100 per account in the Government sector and Rs 15 under APY / NPS-Lite. All figures are exclusive of GST.
How a rupee charge becomes units. The workbook's own illustration: a subscriber owes a charge of Rs 100 and holds two schemes 50:50 with NAVs of Rs 12.50 and Rs 20. The CRA does not raise an invoice — it cancels units:
Rs 50 from scheme 1 → 50 ÷ 12.50 = 4.0 units cancelled
Rs 50 from scheme 2 → 50 ÷ 20.00 = 2.5 units cancelled
The account balance falls by Rs 100 and the subscriber never writes a cheque. That mechanism — unit cancellation at NAV — is what makes the NPS charge structure invisible in cash flow and very visible in the corpus, and it is why the workbook stresses that costs "have a significant impact on the accumulation of corpus".
Why NISM asks about it
Chapter 4 (Retirement Planning Products: National Pension System), section 4.1.1, lists the CRA among the NPS intermediaries, and section 4.1.4 sets out its charges alongside the PoP, pension fund, custodian and NPS Trust. Chapter 9 covers the registration conditions. The examinable pattern is matching a function to the right intermediary — who issues the PRAN, who holds the funds, who holds the securities, who declares the NAV — and the three-way unit-cancellation arithmetic above, which appears as a numerical question.
Common exam traps
- The CRA is not the trustee bank and not the custodian. The CRA keeps records and unitises; Axis Bank holds the cash as trustee bank; Deutsche Bank holds the securities as custodian; the pension funds declare the NAV.
- There are three CRAs, not one. Protean, KFin and CAMS. A question naming only Protean is usually testing whether you know it is not a monopoly.
- The CRA does not declare NAV. Pension funds compute and declare it daily; the CRA uses it to allot units and to measure fund performance.
- Charges are per transaction for some intermediaries and per annum for others. The CRA has no per-transaction charge under the current schedule; the PoP charge moved to 0.20 percent of AUM per annum from 1 January 2026.
- Annual maintenance is slab-based in the private sector, from zero to Rs 500 by Tier-I corpus — not a single flat figure. The flat figures are Government sector (Rs 100) and APY/NPS-Lite (Rs 15).
- Grievances go through the CRA's CGMS, including grievances against the PoP itself, which the PoP must upload daily.
Check yourself
1.Which NPS intermediary charges the subscriber nothing at all?
- a)The Central Recordkeeping Agency
- b)The Point of Presence
- c)The Trustee Bank
- d)The Pension Fund
Show the answer
Answer: (c) The Trustee Bank
Trustee Bank (Axis Bank): NIL charge to the subscriber.
Every other intermediary in the list charges something:
- CRA — PRAN opening Rs 18 electronic or Rs 40 physical, with annual maintenance from Rs 0 to Rs 500 by corpus slab in the private sector, Rs 100 in the Government sector and Rs 15 under APY/NPS-Lite
- PoP — Rs 200 one-time onboarding (Rs 100 fully digital) plus 0.20% p.a. of AUM
- Pension Fund — the slab-based Investment Management Fee
Also charging, though almost invisibly: the Custodian at 0.000000001770% per annum and the NPS Trust at 0.003% per annum of AUM.
⚠️ The broader point the workbook makes: ULTIMATELY, THE SUBSCRIBER BEARS THE CHARGES — whether paid upfront, recovered by cancelling units, or deducted while computing the NAV. All figures are exclusive of GST.
2.Which of the following statements about the NPS Trust is CORRECT?
- a)It is a statutory body created directly by the PFRDA Act, 2013 and is the beneficial owner of the securities bought by the pension funds
- b)It is a body registered with SEBI whose main job is to provide custodial and depository participant services to the pension funds
- c)It is a trust set up under the Indian Trusts Act with PFRDA as the settlor; securities bought by pension funds are held in its name, and the individual subscribers are the beneficial owners
- d)It is the intermediary that issues PRANs, maintains subscriber records and runs the central grievance management system
Show the answer
Answer: (c) It is a trust set up under the Indian Trusts Act with PFRDA as the settlor; securities bought by pension funds are held in its name, and the individual subscribers are the beneficial owners
The NPS Trust is a trust set up under the Indian Trusts Act and PFRDA is the settlor of NPS Trust. Its primary function is to hold and manage the assets and funds created out of the contributions made by the subscribers and held in their beneficial interest. The securities and other permitted instruments purchased by each pension fund will be in the name of the NPS Trust and held in the custodial account of the NPS Trust. The beneficial owners of these assets are the individual NPS subscribers. So option C is correct.
Why the others are wrong:
- Option A gets both halves wrong. The Trust is created under the Indian Trusts Act by a trust deed that PFRDA executes, not directly by the PFRDA Act. It is the legal holder of the securities. The beneficial owners are the subscribers.
- Option B describes the custodian, which is a custodian registered with SEBI appointed by PFRDA for providing custodial and depository participant services.
- Option D describes the Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA), which issues the PRAN, maintains records and provides a centralized grievance management system.
The Trust's Board of Trustees has the fiduciary responsibility for taking care of the funds and protecting the subscribers' interests and monitors the CRA, PoPs, Trustee Bank, Pension Funds and Custodians.
3.A PoP engages an IRDAI-registered insurance agent as a Pension Agent. Which of the following may the Pension Agent NOT do?
- a)Facilitate the registration of new subscribers
- b)Facilitate contributions by subscribers
- c)Process exit or withdrawal requests of subscribers
- d)Facilitate service requests of subscribers
Show the answer
Answer: (c) Process exit or withdrawal requests of subscribers
The PFRDA (Point of Presence) Regulations, 2018 let a PoP engage Pension Agents. A Pension Agent facilitates registration, contributions and service requests but cannot process exit or withdrawal requests. So option C is correct.
Options A, B and D are the three things the workbook says a Pension Agent does facilitate.
Other Pension Agent rules to remember:
- Who qualifies: Pension Agents are defined to include Reserve Bank of India's banking correspondents, IRDAI-registered insurance agents, AMFI-registered mutual-fund distributors, and 'any other person permitted by the Authority'.
- Liability: the PoP remains fully liable for the agent's acts and for KYC/anti-money-laundering compliance, and must monitor, supervise and train the agent.
- Tracking: each agent is identified by its Permanent Account Number across PoPs, and every PoP must publish a half-yearly list of its agents and designate a Nodal Officer.
The exclusion makes sense. Exit and withdrawal are where money leaves the retirement account, so that step stays with the regulated PoP and the CRA.
Where this is taught
Free preparation for NISM Series XVIIRelated terms
- Net Asset ValueThe net assets of a mutual fund scheme divided by the number of units outstanding — what one unit of the scheme is worth on a given day, after every liability except the unitholders' own.
- Active ChoiceThe NPS investment option under which the subscriber sets the split across the E, C, G and A asset classes personally, subject to a 75 percent cap on equity and 5 percent on alternatives.
- Multiple Scheme FrameworkThe PFRDA framework, effective 1 October 2025, that lets non-government NPS subscribers hold branded pension-fund schemes alongside the existing Common Schemes under a single PRAN at each CRA.
- National Pension SystemA PFRDA-regulated, defined-contribution retirement scheme in which the subscriber builds a market-linked corpus and must convert part of it into an annuity at exit; there is no guaranteed return.
- Permanent Retirement Account NumberThe unique account number issued when an NPS account is opened; it stays with the subscriber for life and across employers, which is what makes NPS portable in a way EPF historically was not.
- Atal Pension YojanaA government-guaranteed defined-pension scheme for unorganised-sector workers, paying a fixed Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 a month from age 60 for contributions started between ages 18 and 40.
- Annuity Service ProviderAn IRDAI-registered life insurance company empanelled by PFRDA to sell NPS subscribers the annuity they must buy on exit, and to pay the pension for the life of the contract.
- PFRDAThe Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority — interim NPS regulator from 2003 and statutory authority for the pension sector since 1 February 2014 under the PFRDA Act, 2013.
- PFRDA Pension SahayakPFRDA's AI-powered omnichannel grievance portal for NPS subscribers — web, app and WhatsApp, mobile-OTP login, 22 languages — replacing the CRA grievance system from June 2026.
- Pension AgentA person a Point of Presence engages, with Board approval, to extend NPS distribution — who may take registrations, contributions and service requests but may not process exits or accept cash.
- Business DayThe PFRDA-defined day on which the Trustee Bank's designated branch, the stock exchanges and the government securities market are all simultaneously open for business.
- D-RemitA facility that lets NPS subscribers make voluntary contributions straight from their bank account into their NPS account, via a dedicated virtual ID, with same-day investment if received before the cut-off.
- e-KYC SetuAn NPCI-operated facility that verifies an NPS subscriber's identity through Aadhaar without ever disclosing the full Aadhaar number to the Point of Presence, CRA or NPS Trust.
- Statement of TransactionAn annual NPS statement, sent physically or by email, that records a subscriber's contributions and account activity for the financial year.
- Trustee BankThe scheduled commercial bank, currently Axis Bank, that holds NPS funds on behalf of the NPS Trust and moves money between subscribers, pension funds and annuity providers.
- Unbundled architectureThe NPS design principle of splitting authority and responsibility across separate, independent intermediaries, rather than concentrating decision-making with any single entity.
- Project OASIS ReportThe 2000 report of the S.A. Dave committee on old-age income security, which recommended moving India from unfunded defined-benefit pensions to funded individual accounts — the design the NPS was built on.
- Intermediary under the PFRDA ActThe PFRDA Act's defined class of regulated entities — pension funds, the CRA, the NPS Trust, advisers and points of presence — none of which may operate without a certificate of registration.
- Point of PresenceThe NPS distribution layer — a registered intermediary that onboards subscribers, collects contributions and processes service and exit requests, needing Rs 2 crore of net worth and electronic connectivity to the CRA.
- PoP collection accountThe non-withdrawable bank account a Point of Presence must keep for each pension scheme, named in a prescribed format, from which funds can only be transferred to the NPS Trust.
- NPS TrustThe trust set up by PFRDA under the Indian Trusts Act that holds all NPS assets for subscribers' benefit and supervises the other intermediaries, run by a board of five to eleven trustees.
- PFRDA OmbudsmanThe appellate authority an NPS subscriber may approach when the NPS Trust has not resolved a grievance within 21 days, required to pass an award within 90 days of the appeal being filed.