A statutory regulator for retirement money: how the pension authority is built

Background

Pensions in India have a regulator of their own, and it rests on a statute. The PFRDA Act, 2013 created the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority as the statutory regulatory body for the sector, and it works under the Ministry of Finance. Regulation, development and supervision of the pension sector are the three tasks set for it, and the schemes it covers include the National Pension System and Atal Pension Yojana. For the chain of intermediaries in the system — pension funds, trustees, central recordkeeping agencies, aggregators and points of presence among them — it lays down a regulatory and supervisory framework meant to keep the sector's growth orderly and subscribers' interests safe. A Chairperson heads the Authority, with Whole Time Members alongside, one of whom holds the Economics charge. It also signs agreements with other agencies: an understanding with Financial Intelligence Unit-India covers the sharing of information against money laundering and terror financing, each side naming a nodal officer and the two meeting quarterly. Gross enrolments under Atal Pension Yojana had crossed 9.10 crore by the middle of 2026.