A Landmark Step to Secure Retirement: India Launches High-Level Pension Forum

To strengthen India’s retirement ecosystem, the Government of India announced on August 25, 2025, the formation of a high-level forum titled the Forum for Regulatory Coordination and Development of Pension Products. 

The forum aims to unify and harmonise the nation’s fragmented pension framework to ensure safer, more transparent, and user-friendly pension systems.

Why Now? The Imperative for Pension Reforms

Despite strides in introducing schemes like NPS, UPS, and APY, only about 12% of the workforce is covered by formal pensions — reflecting significant under-penetration.

India's demographic trends underscore the urgency: by 2047, seniors will outnumber children, and nearly 20% of the population will be over 60 by 2050. This demographic transition demands robust, inclusive, and sustainable pension frameworks to safeguard financial stability in retirement.

Forum Composition: Cross-Sector Leadership

The newly constituted forum brings together top policy and regulatory leaders, ensuring comprehensive oversight:

• Chairperson: Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance
   
• Members: Secretaries of Economic Affairs, Revenue, Corporate Affairs, Labour & Employment, Coal, plus:
   
  • Deputy Governor, RBI
     
  • Chairpersons of SEBI, PFRDA, IRDAI, IFSCA
     
  • Central Provident Fund Commissioner, EPFO
     
  • Secretary to the Forum: Joint Secretary (Pension Reforms), DFS
     
• Expert Invitees: Brought in as needed by the Chairperson

This diverse representation spans the full spectrum of pension regulatory bodies, offering a unified platform for policy coherence and regulatory alignment.

Mandate: Shaping a Cohesive Pension Framework

The forum's responsibilities are both wide-ranging and targeted:

1. Regulatory Consistency: Eliminate divergent rules across schemes, bolstering predictability and transparency.
    
2. Portability & Consumer Protection: Enable smoother transfers between pension accounts, strengthen grievance redress mechanisms, and safeguard subscriber interests.
    
3. Product Innovation: Develop diverse pension products tailored to evolving needs, supplementing existing offerings.
    
4. Awareness Building: Educate citizens on the importance and workings of pensions as a critical financial instrument.
    
5. Global Best Practices: Benchmark against international standards for pension regulation and supervision.

Furthermore, a sub-committee headed by the Joint Secretary (DFS) will zero in on sectoral policy initiatives and harmonisation challenges.

What It Means for Citizens?
 

• Safer Savings: With regulatory clarity and stronger oversight, pension scams or mismanagement risks decrease.
   
• Ease of Transition: Changing jobs or schemes won’t derail a subscriber’s financial plans — portability is on the horizon.
   
• Better Products: Expect more flexible and tailored pension products to suit different retirement goals.
   
• Confidence & Inclusion: A safer, well-governed ecosystem encourages even the informal or underserved segments to participate.
   

Collectively, these initiatives aim to elevate pension uptake, enabling more Indians to retire with dignity and financial security.

Building on Pre-Existing Momentum

This move builds upon recent strides in pension policy:

• In April 2025, the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) was introduced as an optional option under NPS for central government staff, offering assured payouts (e.g., 50% of last drawn pay). UPS employees now have a one-time switch facility to move back to NPS.
   
• Earlier this year, the First International Research Conference on Pensions (IRCP 2025) convened global thought leaders and reaffirmed India’s focus on inclusive, sustainable pension reforms.

Together, these efforts form the bedrock on which the new forum will build a more robust and accessible pension system.

Conclusion

By reconvening India’s regulators and policy architects under one roof, the newly launched Forum for Regulatory Coordination and Development of Pension Products marks a pivotal move toward better retirement preparedness.

It signals a commitment to regulatory harmony, customer-centric solutions, and global benchmarking, essential ingredients for transforming retirement security in India.

As India braces for a demographic shift where one in five citizens will be a senior by 2050, such foresight is both timely and necessary.

 

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