NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME – TERMS AND CONDITIONS

These National Pension Scheme – Terms and Conditions (“NPS Terms and Conditions”) constitute a computer-generated electronic record published in terms of Rule 3 of the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, as amended and read with the Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended and does not require any physical or digital signatures.

All capitalized terms used herein shall have the meaning ascribed to them under Section B (Definitions) below.

A. INTRODUCTION

1. These NPS Terms and Conditions govern your access to and use of the Services offered by PhonePe Limited (Formerly known as ‘PhonePe Private Limited’) (“PhonePe”) on the PhonePe Platform.

2. Please read each of these NPS Terms and Conditions carefully before taking further steps to avail the NPS Services as these NPS Terms and Conditions contain important information about your legal rights, remedies and obligations. These Terms and Conditions constitute a legally binding agreement between you (“You”) and PhonePe.

3. By accessing, navigating, or initiating the NPS Services on the PhonePe Platform to avail the NPS onboarding journey enabled by the PFRDA, You agree to be bound by these NPS Terms and Conditions in conjunction with any applicable rules as prescribed by the PFRDA and/or any of the NPS Participants from time to time. 

4. By accessing the PhonePe Platform to avail the NPS Services or registering Your information on the PhonePe Platform for availing the NPS Services, in addition to these NPS Terms and Conditions, You agree to be bound by the General PhonePe Terms and Conditions (“General T&Cs”) . In the event of any inconsistency between these NPS Terms and Conditions and the General T&Cs, these Terms and Conditions shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency and solely with respect to the Services covered herein. 

5. By using the PhonePe Platform, You hereby consent to the use of Your information as outlined in PhonePe’s Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy explains how PhonePe treats Your personal information when You access the PhonePe Platform.

B. DEFINITIONS

1. “API” means application programming interface;
2. “API Gateway” shall mean the technology infrastructure or the transmission and integration layer, owned and operated by NBSL for facilitating secure exchange of data and routing of information, mostly in the form or requests and responses, through standardized API-led integrations between the NPS Participants.
3. “NBSL” means NPCI BHIM Services Limited;
4. “NPS” shall mean the National Pension System as defined under the PFRDA Act;
5. “NPS Participants” shall mean PhonePe as the Pension Agent, the PoP, the API Gateway;
6. “NPS Services” shall mean the NPS onboarding facilitation services offered by PhonePe as permitted by PFRDA;
7. “Pension Agent” means such person who is prescribed by the PFRDA from time to time and engaged by a PoP under an agreement for facilitating the distribution of NPS including by facilitating the onboarding of subscribers to NPS;
8. “PFRDA” shall mean the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority;
9. “PFRDA Act” shall mean the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 as amended from time to time;
10. “PhonePe Platform” means means the software/software application/platform/website that is developed, owned and/or operated by PhonePe and/or its affiliates;
11. “Point of Presence” / “PoP” shall mean the intermediary registered with the PFRDA under the PFRDA Act as a point of presence and capable of electronic connectivity with the CRA for, inter alia, the purposes of receiving and transmitting funds and instructions and payments of funds to Subscribers. For the purposes of these NPS Terms and Conditions, PoP shall include Axis Bank Limited, HDFC Bank Limited, ICICI Bank Limited, and State Bank of India;

C. TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. By choosing to access the NPS Services, You understand and agree that NPS is governed by the PFRDA as per applicable laws and PhonePe is not an intermediary, pension distributor or regulated entity under the PFRDA regulations. PhonePe is merely acting as a facilitator deemed as a Pension Agent under the respective PoP(s) in accordance with PFRDA guidelines to provide onboarding services as permitted by the PFRDA.

2. You understand, acknowledge and agree that PhonePe acts strictly under the authority and supervision of the respective PoP(s) and as per the directions and authorisation of the respective PoP(s) in accordance with the PFRDA regulations and PhonePe does not exert any control over, and is not responsible for the fulfillment, legality, completion of the transactions between other NPS Participants. PhonePe’s role is limited to providing infrastructure to facilitate onboarding of subscribers, collect subscriber information and transmit the same to PoP and provide front-end user assistance to subscribers during onboarding.

3. The PoP is the principal regulated intermediary responsible for onboarding, customer due diligence and servicing of subscribers under NPS. PhonePe does not exercise discretion in acceptance or rejection of any applications for NPS. PhonePe does not perform customer identification, KYC compliance, customer due diligence, risk assessment, PRAN generation, fund handling or settlement functions. 

4. PhonePe provides the NPS Services in conjunction with the NPS Participants through the API Gateway. You understand, acknowledge and agree that the NPS Services offered by PhonePe involves integrations with multiple external systems of the NPS Participants. Accordingly, PhonePe shall not be responsible for any delay, failure, interruption, or unsuccessful onboarding arising due to technical or operational issues attributable to such external systems or infrastructure that are beyond the control of PhonePe.

5. PhonePe shall not be responsible for the fulfillment of any services related to NPS, including without limitation: (a) Availability and/or functionality of the API Gateway; (b) accuracy and/or completeness of any information provided by the respective PoP(s); (c) successful PRAN generation and completion of the complete onboarding journey; (d) any customer support services regarding NPS other than in relation to the on-boarding services facilitated by PhonePe; (e) Cancellation of any service by any of respective PoP(s) for any reason or no reason.

6. PhonePe operates purely as a technology facilitator and front-end interface to enable seamless entry into the NPS onboarding journey. PhonePe does not act as a Point of Presence, central recordkeeping agency or an investment adviser.

7. To utilize the NPS Services on the PhonePe Platform, you represent and warrant that:

1. You are an individual resident of India;
2. You are between 18 and 85 years of age at the time of account initiation;
3. You possess a fully KYC-compliant savings account with a participating Bank-PoP; and
4. You are legally competent to enter into a binding contract under the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

8. By proceeding with the NPS journey on the Platform, you provide your consent to PhonePe to securely transmit your mobile number, date of birth and such other information as provided during the onboarding journey to the respective PoP through the API Gateway to fetch eligible, bank-verified KYC accounts from the respective PoP’s core banking system (“CBS”).

9. Information hosted on the PhonePe Platform pertaining to NPS is provided by the respective PoPs and PhonePe merely displays any such information on an ‘as-is’ basis. PhonePe may change any information hosted on the PhonePe Platform pertaining to NPS based on information provided by the respective PoPs from time to time without any prior notice to You. By choosing to rely upon any information hosted on the PhonePe Platform in connection with the NPS, you understand, agree and acknowledge that You expressly waive any and all claims, rights of action and/or remedies (under law or otherwise) that you may have against PhonePe in connection with Your reliance upon such information. PhonePe expressly disclaims any and all liabilities and takes no responsibility whatsoever for any consequences arising out of or in connection with the accuracy, completeness or usability of any information pertaining to the NPS. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any information displayed on the PhonePe Platform regarding historical performance is strictly for informational purposes and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice.

10. You understand, acknowledge and agree that generation of PRAN and payment of onboarding charges, initial contribution and/or subsequent contributions is an independent transaction between You and the respective PoP(s) and PhonePe is not responsible for PRAN generation and any other actions associated with the NPS Services. Any sums paid toward onboarding fees and initial contributions are routed directly to the designated account of the respective PoP(s) and PhonePe does not hold, clear, or settle Your funds at any point.

11. Grievances relating to PRAN generation, account maintenance, KYC validation, fund management, or scheme performance must be raised through the statutorily prescribed NPS grievance redressal mechanism or directly with the respective PoP(s) and/or CRA, as governed by PFRDA regulations. In case of any technical issues related to the PhonePe Platform’s user interface in the course of availing the NPS Services, you may reach out to PhonePe customer support.

12. To the extent permitted by applicable law, You agree to receive communications through emails, telephone and/or SMS, from PhonePe or its third-party vendors/business partners/marketing affiliates regarding the NPS services, updates, information/promotional emails and/or product announcements. To the extent permitted by applicable law, You agree and consent to receive all communications at the mobile number provided by You, even if such mobile number is registered under Do Not Disturb (“DND”) / National Customer Preference Register (“NCPR”) list under the applicable law, including the rules and regulations made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”). For this purpose, You further authorize PhonePe to share/disclose Your information to its group companies, PhonePe’s third-party service provider or any authorized agents.

13. While PhonePe takes reasonable steps to ensure that all communications are properly sent, there may be failure(s) in sending communications owing to issues such as any restrictions on the contact information, the phone number being registered under the DND list, insufficiency in email data storage, errors with telecom service providers etc. In consideration of the foregoing, PhonePe shall not be held responsible or liable for non-receipt of any communications.

14. You acknowledge and agree that PhonePe owns all legal right, title and interest in and to the PhonePe Platform and the Services, including any intellectual property rights which subsist in the PhonePe Platform and the NPS Services (whether those rights are registered or not). You further acknowledge that the NPS Services may contain information which is designated confidential by PhonePe and that You shall not disclose such information without PhonePe`s prior written consent. The contents of the PhonePe Platform, including its “look and feel” (e.g. text, graphics, images, logos and button icons), photographs, editorial content, notices, software and other material are owned by/licensed to PhonePe and/or its third party service providers/their licensors, as the case may be, and are duly protected by them under applicable copyright, trademark and other laws. PhonePe hereby grants You a limited license to access and make use of the PhonePe Platform and the Services. This license does not include any downloading or copying of any kind of information for the benefit of another individual, vendor or any other third party or to create a derivative work from, modify, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sublicense, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right in the NPS Services. Any unauthorized use by You shall terminate the permission or license granted to You.

15. By using the PhonePe Platform, You agree not to: (i) use the PhonePe Platform or its contents for any commercial purpose; (ii) make any speculative, false, or fraudulent transaction or any transaction in anticipation of demand; (iii) access, monitor or copy any content or information of the PhonePe Platform using any robot, spider, scraper, or other automated means or any manual process for any purpose without PhonePe’s express written permission; (iv) violate the restrictions in any exclusion headers on the PhonePe Platform or bypass or restrict or circumvent other measures employed to prevent or limit access to the PhonePe Platform; (v) take any action that imposes, or may impose, in PhonePe’s discretion, an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on PhonePe infrastructure; (vi) deep-link to any portion of the PhonePe Platform (including, without limitation, the purchase path for any product/service) for any purpose without PhonePe’s express written permission; or (vii) “frame”, “mirror” or otherwise incorporate any part of the PhonePe Platform into any other website without PhonePe’s prior written authorization; or (viii) initiate any fraudulent applications or use the PhonePe Platform to commit any fraud with/on PhonePe/respective PoP(s) or any third party(ies); and (ix) provide any incorrect, incomplete or false information/ data to PhonePe and/or respective PoP(s).

16. The  NPS Services are provided on an “AS IS” and “AS AVAILABLE” basis. PhonePe makes no express or implied warranties regarding system uptime, uninterrupted availability, or error-free transmission.

17. In no event will PhonePe be liable for any indirect, consequential, incidental, special or punitive damages, including without limitation damages for loss of profits or revenues, business interruption, loss of business opportunities, loss of data or loss of other economic interests, whether in contract, negligence, tort or otherwise, arising from the use of or inability to use the NPS Services, however caused and whether arising in contract, tort, negligence, warranty or otherwise. PhonePe’s liability, if any, shall in no event exceed Rupees Fifty (Rs. 50).

18. You unconditionally and unequivocally agree to keep PhonePe, its affiliates, and its/their respective directors, shareholders, officers, employees, agents indemnified against any and all claims, liabilities, demands, losses, expenses, costs (including reasonable attorney’s fees), regulatory actions, fines, penalties, or damages that they may suffer, incur or become subject to in connection therewith or arising from sharing and/or disclosing the aforesaid information including necessary personal information with the NPS Participants, or arising out of Your violation of these NPS Terms and Conditions.

19. These NPS Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India, including the PFRDA Act and/or regulations thereunder. Any legal suit, action, or proceeding arising out of or relating to these NPS Terms and Conditions shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts at Bengaluru, Karnataka.

20. PhonePe reserves the right to modify, amend, or update these NPS Terms and Conditions at any time to align with statutory amendments, PFRDA directions, or operational enhancements. Continued use of the NPS Services following any such update constitutes your binding acceptance of the revised terms.

21. You understand, agree and acknowledge that if any provision of these Terms and Conditions contravene or be illegal, invalid or unenforceable under the applicable laws, then such contravention, illegality, invalidity or unenforceability shall not invalidate the entire Terms and Conditions. Such provision shall be deemed to be modified to the extent necessary to render it valid, legal and enforceable, and if no such modification shall render it valid, legal and enforceable, then the Terms and Conditions shall be construed as if not containing the provision held to be invalid, and the validity, legality and enforceability of the provisions or covenants of these Terms and Conditions shall be unaffected, and the rights and obligations of the parties shall be construed and enforced accordingly.

22. PhonePe shall have the right to assign this Agreement (including all rights, titles, benefits, interests, and obligations and duties in this Agreement) or any part thereof to any of its affiliates and to any successor in interest. PhonePe may delegate certain PhonePe rights and responsibilities under this Agreement to independent contractors or other third parties. You may not assign, in whole or part, this Agreement to any person or entity without Our prior written consent, which may be withheld at our sole discretion.

23. PhonePe reserves the right to discontinue or suspend, temporarily or permanently, the Service, without any prior notice to You. You agree that PhonePe will not be liable to You in any manner whatsoever for any modification or discontinuance of the NPS Services.