Tired of waiting two days for your National Pension Scheme (NPS) investment to show up? A facility called D-Remit promises to change that by giving subscribers the same-day net asset value (NAV) on their contributions—cutting the usual T+2 settlement lag.
Typically, NPS transactions take two working days to be processed. That means if you buy units today, you’ll only get the NAV applicable two days later. With D-Remit, the process is instant: the money flows directly to the trustee bank (currently Axis Bank), avoiding the detour through central recordkeeping agencies (CRAs) and Points of Presence (PoPs).
How D-Remit works
D-Remit links a subscriber directly with the trustee bank through a virtual account ID. This account can be used only for NPS contributions.
To open one, you’ll need:
An active NPS Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN)
Internet banking with your bank
A registered mobile number or email linked with the NPS account for OTP verification
Once these are in place, go to the eNPS website, select “National Pension Scheme,” and choose the “Same Day NAV” option. Enter your PRAN, verify via OTP, and then select whether to create the account for tier I or tier II. A separate virtual account is required for each.
Approval usually takes one working day, after which the CRA will notify you.
“The sixth digit of your Virtual Account with ‘1’ or ‘2’ is the identifier for Tier I and Tier II accounts, respectively. It is required to create a separate Virtual Account Number for both the accounts of NPS, i.e., Tier I and Tier II,” according to a guide on the NSDL e-protean website, a CRA for NPS.
Setting it up with your bank
Once the virtual account ID is generated, log in to your internet banking portal and add it as a beneficiary. The subscriber’s name (as per CRA records) should be entered as the beneficiary name.
Important details:
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Account type: Current account (if required)
After the beneficiary is added, you can begin contributing. To get same-day NAV, funds must reach the trustee bank before 11 am. Contributions made after that cut-off are processed with the next working day’s NAV. A minimum of ₹500 is required per transaction.
Starting an SIP
Once your virtual account is added as a beneficiary, you can automate contributions.
“For setting up your SIP, once you generate your virtual account, follow the process of adding the virtual account as a beneficiary. Post addition of the virtual account as a beneficiary, set a standing instruction through the same internet banking login for investing a specified amount on a regular interval to your NPS accounts. Most banks these days provide this facility,” the NSDL eProtean site notes.
Using D-Remit isn’t free. A processing charge of 0.20% of the contribution applies, capped at ₹10,000 per transaction. By comparison, contributions made through PoPs cost up to 0.50%, capped at ₹25,000 per transaction.
Opening an account directly with CRAs can be cheaper, with fees ranging between ₹3.36 and ₹3.75, according to the NPS Trust website.
Kuldeep Parashar, founder of CEO of PensionBox, said that his platform also allows SIPs but through the UPI AutoPay mechanism. However, unlike D-remit, where users get the same day NAV, UPI AutoPay transactions happen on a T+1 basis. “In products like NPS, the NAV doesn’t fluctuate much on a daily basis, and looking at the long-term nature of NPS, the slight delay in NAV calculation would not make much difference.