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Industry
2 min. Read
|Feb 21, 2026 11:51 AM

ICICI Prudential and Apollo Partner to Launch India’s First “Health Pension”

Sahiba Sharma
By Sahiba Sharma
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ICICI Prudential Pension Fund has launched “ICICI PF NPS Swasthya Equity Plus,” India’s first health-focused retirement scheme.

Introduced under the PFRDA regulatory sandbox, this innovative product combines long-term wealth creation with immediate liquidity for healthcare needs.

It addresses a critical gap in India’s social security framework.

ICICI Prudential Bridging the Healthcare Financing Gap

The scheme is designed to tackle the high out-of-pocket medical expenses faced by Indian households.

These costs currently average between 15% and 20% of their annual income.

The fund integrates healthcare access into the National Pension System (NPS).

This initiative aims to prevent subscribers from liquidating long-term assets during medical emergencies.

PFRDA Chairman Sivasubramanian Ramann described the initiative as a “proof of concept.” He noted that it complements existing health insurance rather than replacing it.

The scheme operates as a pilot project, with Apollo HealthCo as the healthcare partner and KFintech as the digital record-keeping agency.

Unique Liquidity and Investment Structure

The Swasthya Scheme stands out for its flexible withdrawal rules, which are significantly more relaxed than standard NPS accounts:

  • Medical Withdrawals: Subscribers can withdraw up to 25% of their own contributions multiple times for medical bills, including OPD consultations, diagnostics, and pharmacy purchases.
  • Eligibility Threshold: The first withdrawal is permitted once the account corpus reaches ₹50,000.
  • Emergency Exit: If medical expenses exceed 70% of the total corpus, a 100% lump-sum withdrawal is allowed to pay the health service provider directly.
  • Equity Focus: To ensure long-term growth, the scheme maintains a high equity exposure, investing between 70% and 100% of the corpus in stocks.

Strategic Healthcare Benefits

Subscribers gain exclusive access to the Apollo 24/7 ecosystem, which includes discounts on pharmacy orders, diagnostics, and hospital services.

While the company offers digital services nationwide, it is currently piloting physical pharmacy and hospital benefits in Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Investors over the age of 40 (excluding government employees) can transfer up to 30% of their existing NPS contributions into this health-linked account.

This provision allows them to quickly establish a dedicated medical buffer.

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