Ministry of Rural Development and PFRDA Launch Pension Sakhis Initiative
The Department of Rural Development (DoRD) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on September 14, 2026, to create a community-based outreach mechanism of 'Pension Sakhis' across rural India. The partnership was formalized between Shri Amit Shukla, Joint Secretary DoRD, and Ms. Sumeet Kaur Kapoor, Executive Director of PFRDA, in the presence of Shri Rohit Kansal, Secretary of the Department of Rural Development.
The initiative leverages the extensive community institutional network created under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), including its Banking Correspondent Sakhis and other trained community resource persons. Pension Sakhis will serve as trusted community-level facilitators specifically targeting SHG members, rural women, Lakhpati Didis, and other rural participants. Their role includes providing information on pension and retirement planning, facilitating enrollment, and offering assistance in understanding pension-related services.
Secretary Rohit Kansal emphasized that rural households participating in the SHG movement have distinctive savings patterns, livelihood cycles, and risk profiles, making social security a critical component of the Mission's objective of sustainable prosperity. He stressed that social security provides not only protection against vulnerability but also gives households the confidence and resilience to pursue sustained economic advancement. Kansal highlighted the importance of transparent information delivery to enable informed choices about long-term financial security.
Ms. Mamta Shankar noted the growing importance of retirement planning in the context of rising life expectancy and changing demographic patterns. The collaboration will utilize digital dashboards and mobile- and web-based solutions, including the Department's LoKoS system, to strengthen monitoring of outreach and enrollment, enabling participating institutions to track progress and identify coverage gaps.
The partnership combines PFRDA's expertise in pension regulation and retirement-security systems with DAY-NRLM's unparalleled community reach through women's collectives and trained grassroots cadres. This initiative represents an evolution in the Mission's community cadres—from facilitating access to banking and livelihoods to helping rural households build long-term financial security and resilience, addressing the gap where access to banking doesn't automatically translate into adequate retirement planning for households dependent on agriculture, informal employment, and small enterprises.