How to apply for a refund from Subscribers’ Pension Contribution Protection Account (SPCPA)?

If National Pension System (NPS) or NPS Lite subscribers deposit money with a Point of Presence (POP), but the amount is never credited to their Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN), they may be eligible to claim a refund.

These unclaimed contributions are retained in the Subscribers’ Pension Contribution Protection Account (SPCPA), maintained by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

What is the Subscribers’ Pension Contribution Protection Account?

The SPCPA is an account maintained by the PFRDA to manage unclaimed pension contributions that were deposited with POPs under NPS or NPS Lite but were not credited to the subscriber’s PRAN.

• Non-availability of PRAN at the time of contribution
• PRAN was never generated for the subscriber

Who can apply for a refund from SPCPA?

You can apply for a refund if you have deposited pension contributions with a POP-NPS or POP-NPS-Lite, and the contribution was not uploaded or credited to your PRAN.

When are contributions transferred to SPCPA?

If the contributions remain unclaimed or unreconciled for more than seven years, or the POP’s registration has been cancelled or expired, the contributions are transferred by POPs to the SPCPA. After the transfer, the contributions are maintained by the PFRDA through the SPCPA.

Can you claim your funds?

Yes, you can claim your money if it got transferred to the SPCPA. Subscribers must claim their contributions within 25 years from the date the unclaimed contribution was transferred to the SPCPA by the intermediary.

How to claim your money?

Here are some key things to remember:

• A claim for refund can be either submitted directly to the PFRDA or through the concerned POP-NPS or POP-NPS-Lite.
• The claim must be filed in the prescribed format along with the required supporting documents.
• After the claim is submitted, the PRFDA scrutinises the documents and verifies the legitimacy of the claim as per the records. If any discrepancy is found, the claim may be sent back to the POP for verification.
• Once verified, the PRFDA approves the refund, along with the compensation recovered from the intermediary (if any).
• The refund amount is directly credited to the subscriber’s savings bank account mentioned in the claim form.

How to find the claim format?

Are there any charges?

No, there is no fee for filing a refund claim.

Do you receive any interest or compensation?

Eligible subscribers will receive the original contribution amount, along with the compensation recovered from the intermediary (if any). The subscriber also gets interest for the period the funds remain unclaimed at a rate determined by the PRFDA.

Which POPs have reported unclaimed amounts to the PFRDA?

Subscribers can apply for a refund if their contribution was deposited with any of the following entities:

• IL&FS Securities Services Ltd
• Reliance Capital Limited

• LIC of India (LICHFL business merged with LIC of India)
• UTI Infrastructure Technology and Services Limited
• IL&FS Limited
• Saptrishi Consultancy Services Limited
• India Infoline Limited

These entities have transferred unclaimed contributions to the SPCPA on different dates.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism

Your Money, Your Right

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in October 2025 said that financial assets worth ₹1.84 lakh crore are lying unclaimed with banks and regulators in the form of deposits, shares, mutual funds, etc. To help people reclaim their forgotten financial assets, the central government launched the 'Your Money, Your Right' movement.

The government has also built dedicated portals for tracing financial assets, like the UDGAM Portal for unclaimed bank deposits & balances and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)’s MITRA Portal for unclaimed amounts in mutual funds. As of December 10, 2025, nearly ₹2,000 crore was returned to citizens under this initiative.