The scheme encourages people to invest in a pension account at regular intervals during the course of their employment. After retirement, the subscribers can take out a certain percentage of the corpus. As an NPS account holder, you will receive the remaining amount as a monthly pension post your retirement.
National Pension System (NPS) is a voluntary, defined contribution retirement savings scheme designed to enable the subscribers to make optimum decisions regarding their future through systematic savings during their working life. NPS seeks to inculcate the habit of saving for retirement amongst the citizens.
As you can see, NPS makes for a great retirement savings scheme. It may not be the best scheme to invest in if your aim is to save for other purposes like children's education, daughter's marriage etc. For all of these needs, a PPF scores over NPS as the best investment scheme.
Normal exit from NPS is allowed at the age of 60 or above. So, premature exit rules will be applicable for anyone planning to exit before 60 years of age. In normal exit, the full amount can be withdrawn as a lump sum if the corpus is less than or equal to Rs 5 lakh.
What is the minimum contribution criteria under NPS? A Subscriber is required to make initial contribution (minimum of Rs. 500 for Tier I and a minimum of Rs. 1000 for Tier II) at the time of registration.
Returns/Interest
A portion of the NPS goes to equities (this may not offer guaranteed returns). However, it offers returns that are much higher than other traditional tax-saving investments like the PPF. This scheme has been in effect for over a decade, and so far has delivered 8% to 10% annualised returns.
An annuity in NPS refers to the pension the NPS subscriber would receive every month from the Annuity Service Provider (ASP). ... However, if you plan on exiting the scheme prematurely, i.e. before the age of 60, the minimum percentage of pension wealth to be reinvested in an annuity is 80%.
What is the lock-in period for NPS? The investments you make in NPS are locked in until the age of 60. And when you reach the age of 60, you can withdraw a maximum of 60% of your corpus. The remaining 40% must be used to purchase an annuity.
The NPS interest rate usually ranges from 9% to 12% p.a. NPS contributions toward Tier I account are subject to income tax benefits.
To encourage investment in NPS, Section 80CCD(1B) of the Income-tax Act allows an additional deduction of Rs 50,000 over and above the Rs 1.5 lakh available under Section 80CCE. *It is assumed that contribution to NPS by the employee does not exceed 10% of the employees' salary.
Open new pension system account in the name of wife: You can open a New Pension System (NPS) account in the name of your wife. The NPS account will give a lump sum amount to your wife on attaining the age of 60 years. Along with this, they will also have regular income in the form of pension every month.
Any Indian citizen in the age group of 18-60 can open an NPS account. NPS is administered and regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority of India (PFRDA). The NPS matures at the age of 60 but can be extended until the age of 70.
The employees of the corporate entity, enrolled by the employer having Indian Citizenship between the age of 18-60 years and complying with the KYC norms, are eligible to be registered as subscribers under NPS. Government of India has discontinued new subscription under NPS Swavalamban with effect from 01/April/2015.
Low Risk Investment
As compared to other investment options, NPS bears comparatively low risk. ... Investors, who are at the age of 50, the risk exposure is 75%, which gets decreased by 2.5% by the time one reaches the age 60%. This equity exposure provides higher-earning opportunities with a lower risk exposure.
You can open an account online through https://enps.nsdl.com/eNPS/NationalPensionSystem.html. Choose the eSign option based on Aadhaar authentication. Alternatively, one can fill up the online form by submission of necessary details and print the same, paste latest photograph, sign and submit it to the CRA.
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) is the body that governs the NPS. You can invest in NPS if you are in the age group of 18 to 65 years of age. In the past few years, NPS rules have been modified to make it investor-friendly.
"One should invest at least Rs 50,000 in NPS every year so that he can avail tax deduction on the amount u/s 80CCD (1B) over and above the Rs 1.5 lakh annual limit under Section 80C," said tax and investment expert Balwant Jain.
How many times should a Subscriber invest in a year? There are no lower or upper limits to the number of contributions per year. The Subscriber is free to manage the frequency and amounts of contributions.
Pension (Annuity) payable for 5, 10, 15 or 20 years certain and thereafter as long as you are alive.
As per PFRDA (Exits & Withdrawals under NPS) Regulations 2015 & amendments thereto, in case of death of Subscriber, the entire accumulated pension wealth of the Subscriber (100% NPS Corpus) shall be paid to the Nominees or Legal heirs, as the case may be, of such Subscriber.