Opening an NPS account? Here are some investor friendly features you must know

The National Pension Scheme has already crossed the milestone figure of over 1,43,90,544 as of August 31, 2021. It has more than Rs. 6.9 lakh crore worth Asset Under Management (AUM) respectively. No wonder, NPS is picking up steam and becoming one of the most popular retirement saving tools among the investing community.

Certain new NPS rules have been notified recently and have allowed the NPS subscriber to withdraw the entire corpus on maturity, subject to conditions. At present, a person can withdraw up to 60 percent of the amount accumulated in the account while the remaining 40 percent is used to purchase an annuity plan.

It is a wonderful substitute for EPF (Employee Provident Fund) which comes with an additional tax benefit.

Following are the tax benefits that one can avail under National Pension Scheme:

– Up to Rs. 1,50,000/ – u/s 80CCE (individual tax limit)

– Up to Rs. 50,000/ – u/s 80CCD(1B) (individual tax limit)

– Up to 10% of Basic Salary – u/s 80CCD(2) (Through Employer contribution)

Age criteria

Under the new user-friendly rules, the PFRDA has also increased the age limit of the Indian Citizens who can apply for NPS to make it more attractive and irresistible since it allows senior citizens as well to opt to enroll in this scheme and further create a retirement corpus for their old age while enjoying some amazing tax benefits that comes wrapped with it. All citizens between 18 to 70 years of age can join the scheme regardless of their gender or income-based criteria. An individual can invest till the age of 77 years.

PRAN account

To make NPS simple and convenient, individual subscribers are issued a unique identification number called Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN). This account can be opened with as low as Rs. 500/ contribution individually. The minimum annual contribution required to be made is Rs.1000/ only and there is no upper limit of contribution. PRAN is completely portable across jobs and geography and hence can be operated through online access from anywhere. As a subscriber, one can make contributions through various modes of payment ranging from Cheque, Cash, DD, or Fund Transfer through pan India.

Assigned pension fund manager

The Pension Fund Managers that are appointed by the regulator prudentially manage subscriber funds through investments across various asset classes. They are critically and closely observed while their performance is constantly kept under the radar by the NPS Trust.