National Pension System Update: Lottery will be held for NPS account holders! PFRDA forms ‘ASCEND’ committee to bring foreign money to India, Dinesh Khara will take charge – ..

By Samira Vishwas On Jul 9, 2026

India’s pension regulator PFRDA has taken a historic and major decision to make the National Pension System (NPS) more strong and profitable. PFRDA has constituted a high-level committee to attract billions of dollars of capital from leading and long-term foreign pension funds from around the world into the Indian market. This major initiative is expected to directly benefit the Indian economy as well as the existing account holders of NPS in the form of better returns.

What is the new ‘ASCEND’ committee of PFRDA?

Name of this special committee formed to attract foreign capital into India’s pension sector. ‘ASCEND’ (ASCEND – Accelerated Scaling of Global Capital Ecosystem and NPS Development) Is placed. This committee comprises a strong panel of stalwarts from the financial sector. This panel will suggest avenues and rules by which Indian pension funds can join hands with foreign funds through the world’s largest co-investment platforms and strategic partnerships.

The command of ‘Ascend’ committee will be in the hands of Dinesh Khara

Chairman of this very important ‘ASCEND’ committee Dinesh Khara, head of NPS Trust and former chairman of SBI. Has been created. Apart from Dinesh Khara, this high-level panel includes many well-known personalities of the country, including:

Narayan Ramachandran, Chairman, TeamLease Services
Ananth Narayan, former whole-time member of SEBI
Ashwin Parekh, Managing Partner, Ashwin Parekh Advisory Services
NPS Trust Trustee Dr. Arvind Gupta
Suparna Tandon, CEO of NPS Trust, has been made a member.

How will NPS account holders get huge benefits?

This synergy between Global Pension Funds and Indian NPS Fund will provide huge financial benefits to the common pension account holders of the country.

Excellent Long-Term Returns: The inflow of foreign funds will bring long-lasting ‘patient money’ into the country’s pension system.
Diversification in Investment: The investment portfolio of NPS subscribers will be diversified, which will significantly reduce the risk.
Better Fund Management: Customers will be able to get excellent risk-adjusted long-term returns on their old age capital in future.

What are Global Pension Funds and how strong is NPS?

Global pension funds actually manage the retirement savings of working people around the world. They have the world’s largest investment fund, which is considered best suited for infrastructure and development projects in a rapidly growing country like India. If we talk about National Pension System (NPS), currently under PFRDA approximately 185 billion US dollars (about Rs 17.50 lakh crore) The fund is being managed, which is about 5 percent of India’s total GDP.