NPS to OPS migration: New rules for death, disability cases; 5 things pensioners and families should know

The Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) has revised the process for migrating eligible death and disability cases from the National Pension System (NPS) to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). The Ministry of Finance issued the revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on October 19, 2026. It replaces the earlier procedure issued on September 17, 2025.

The Ministry of Finance said the revised procedure was introduced after challenges were encountered during the migration process. The aim is to make the process easier and facilitate the migration of eligible legacy NPS-AR pension cases to OPS. The Ministry has directed all concerned stakeholders to implement the revised SOP and inform the relevant officers and officials.

Eligible pensioners or family pensioners will receive a new regular Pension Payment Order (PPO) as part of the migration process. Once the new PPO is received, the pensioner must hand over the old Provisional Pension Payment Order (PPPO) to the bank. The bank will collect the old PPPO and send the relevant copies to the concerned authorities.

No. Pensioners do not have to prepare the new PPO themselves. The concerned government offices and pension authorities will handle this process. The CPAO will send copies of existing PPPOs to the concerned Pay and Accounts Office (PAO). The PAO will then collect the employee’s service book and other required records from the Head of Office.

The new PPO will carry important identification details from the earlier pension records. It will include the old PPPO number as well as the employee’s Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN). Before the new PPO is processed, the relevant records will be collected and verified by the concerned authorities as part of the migration procedure.

Once the required records have been collected and verified, the documents will be forwarded through the CPAO to the Central Pension Processing Centre (CPPC) of the concerned bank. The CPPC will then process the pension case based on the new PPO. This means pensioners do not have to independently coordinate every stage of the migration process.

The migration to OPS does not remove the existing requirement to submit a life certificate. Under the existing Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) guidelines, pensioners must submit their life certificate to the bank every year in November. Pensioners should therefore continue following this annual requirement after migration.

Pensioners and family pensioners should keep track of the new PPO issued under the revised migration process. After receiving it, the old PPPO must be handed over to the bank. They should also ensure that their pension records are properly processed and continue submitting the life certificate every November as required under the existing guidelines.