Section 2 in The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Exits and Withdrawals under the National Pension System) Regulations, 2015
2. Definitions.
(1)In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a)"Act" means the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (23 of 2013);(b)"accumulated pension wealth" means the monetary value of the pension investments accumulated in the Permanent Retirement Account of a subscriber under the National Pension System;(c)"aggregator" means an intermediary registered with the Authority under sub-section (3) of section 27 of the Act, to perform subscriber interface functions under the National Pension System-Swavalamban and have the functional relationship with a known customer base for delivery of some socio-economic goods or services;(d)"annuity service provider" means a life insurance company registered and regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and empanelled by the Authority for providing annuity services to the subscribers of the National Pension System;(e)"citizen of India" means a person qualified to be a citizen of India under the Citizenship Act, 1955 (57 of 1955);(f)"compliance officer" means a person of responsibility from the National Pension System Trust or any other intermediary or entity entrusted with the responsibility of receiving, processing and settlement of withdrawal claims from the subscribers under the National Pension System and responsible for monitoring compliance, of the provisions of the Actor the rules or the regulations made or notifications, guidelines or instructions issued by the Authority from time to time;(g)"government sector subscriber" means a subscriber enrolled in the National Pension System through the nodal offices of the Central Government or the State Governments and registered as such with the central record keeping agency;(h)"National Pension System-Lite" means a feature of optimized group model of National Pension System for persons belonging to unorganized sector of which the National Pension System-Swavalamban is a component where Government of India co-contribution is admissible;(i)"Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN)" means a unique identification number allotted to each subscriber by the central record keeping agency;(j)"Swavalamban subscriber" means a subscriber who is registered as such with the central record keeping agency under the National Pension System and where Government of India co-contribution is admissible;(k)[ "Exit" for the purpose of this regulation shall mean closure of individual pension account of the subscriber under National Pension System, upon and on the date of happening of any of the following events, as may be applicable: [Added by Notification No. PFRDA/12/RGL/139/8, dated 10.8.2017 (w.e.f. 11.5.2015)](i)a subscriber having superannuated/retired from employment, as per the terms of such employment;(ii)[ a subscriber having attained the age of sixty years and where so specifically permitted has not exercised a choice in writing to continue to remain subscribed to such system till such further period as is permissible, with or without making contributions or in respect of a subscriber who has joined National Pension System after attaining the age of sixty years (but before attaining sixty five years of age) upon attaining the maximum age permitted to be subscriber to such scheme or any date prior thereto, based on the specific request for closure received from subscriber;](iii)[ death of the subscriber before attaining the age of superannuation or the age of sixty years, or in cases where an option has been exercised by subscriber to continue to remain subscriber to a certain permissible time period, death before expiry of such period or death of a subscriber who has joined National Pension System after attaining the age of sixty years (but before attaining sixty five years of age) at any time prior to attaining the maximum age permitted to be subscribed to such scheme;] [Substituted by Notification No. PFRDA/12/RGL/139/8, dated 6.10.2017 (w.e.f. 11.5.2015)](iv)voluntary closure of the account by the subscriber, in cases where so permitted and on the date on which such closure is effected in the system;Provided that a subscriber shall be deemed to have exited from National Pension System, in accordance with sub-clause (i) to (iv) notwithstanding that no claims have been received by or on behalf of the subscriber or such claims having being received are pending settlement.Provided further that where a subscriber ceases to be in employment other than retirement or superannuation, it shall not be treated as exit and he shall have the option to continue his individual pension account, if available under new employment or as voluntarily available to citizens, unless the subscriber prefers a claim as provided under these regulations for withdrawal of benefits.(l)The expression "defer" or "deferment" wherever used in these regulations shall mean the postponement or deferment of claims for receiving benefits admissible to a subscriber upon exit from National Pension System.](2)Words and expressions used and not defined in these regulations but defined in the Act shall have the meanings assigned to them in the Act.
