You can withdraw funds from your National Pension System (NPS) account under specific conditions, such as normal exit (superannuation), premature exit, exit upon death, or partial withdrawal. You can make withdrawals from your NPS account under the following categories:
Normal exit (superannuation)
You can exit NPS after you attain 60 years of age or after you complete 15 years of investment in NPS. The withdrawal rules depend on your corpus and sector:
- All Citizen and Corporate sectors (Corpus of ₹8 lakh or below): You can withdraw 100% as a lump sum, or you can withdraw up to 80% as a lump sum and invest at least 20% in an annuity.
- All Citizen and Corporate sectors (Corpus above ₹8 lakh): You can withdraw up to 80% as a lump sum and you must invest at least 20% in an annuity.
- Government sector (Corpus of ₹8 lakh or below): You can withdraw 100% as a lump sum, or you can withdraw up to 80% as a lump sum and invest at least 20% in an annuity.
- Government sector (Corpus above ₹8 lakh): You can withdraw up to 60% as a lump sum and you must invest at least 40% in an annuity.
You require a 10-digit Claim ID to initiate a superannuation exit request. The Central Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) generates the Claim ID when you attain 60 years of age or superannuation, and communicates it to you through alerts. If you do not receive the Claim ID, you can create a ticket.
Premature exit
If you exit NPS before completing the required tenure, no minimum lock-in period applies. The withdrawal rules for premature exit are:
- Corpus of ₹5 lakh or below (All Citizen, Government, and Corporate sectors): You can withdraw 100% as a lump sum, or you can withdraw up to 20% as a lump sum and invest at least 80% in an annuity.
- Corpus above ₹5 lakh (All Citizen, Government, and Corporate sectors): You can withdraw up to 20% as a lump sum and you must invest at least 80% in an annuity.
You require a 10-digit Claim ID to initiate a premature exit request. You can create a ticket, and Zerodha will provide the Claim ID.
Exit upon death
If you pass away, the CRA will disburse your NPS investment to your nominee or legal heir as a lump sum. Alternatively, your nominee can choose to receive the payout as an annuity.
The CRA will credit the funds to the linked bank account within T+3 days. You do not have to pay any charges for exits and withdrawals. Your nominee or legal heir can create a ticket, and Zerodha will guide them through the NPS claim process.
Partial withdrawal
You can make partial withdrawals from your NPS account, subject to the following conditions:
- Vesting period: You must wait 3 years from your Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) generation date before making a partial withdrawal. If you joined NPS after 60 years of age, no vesting period applies.
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Specific purpose:
You can make partial withdrawals for the following reasons:
- Children's education.
- Children's marriage.
- Purchase or construction of a residential property (this option is unavailable if you already possess a residential property).
- Medical treatment for you, your spouse, children, or dependent parents. You can view the covered medical illnesses in this list (PDF).
- Number of withdrawals: You can make up to 4 partial withdrawals if you joined NPS before 60 years of age. If you joined after 60 years of age, you can make any number of withdrawals.
- Interval between withdrawals: You must wait at least 4 years between withdrawals if you joined before 60 years of age, and at least 3 years if you joined after 60 years of age.
- Maximum amount: You can withdraw up to 25% of your own contributions in either case.
Exit if you joined NPS after 60 years of age (All Citizen Model)
If you joined NPS after turning 60 years of age, no vesting period applies. You can exit NPS at any time after the CRA generates your PRAN. The withdrawal rules are:
- Corpus of ₹12 lakh or below: You can withdraw 100% as a lump sum, or you can withdraw up to 80% as a lump sum and invest at least 20% in an annuity.
- Corpus above ₹12 lakh: You can withdraw up to 80% as a lump sum, and you must invest at least 20% in an annuity.
How to place a withdrawal request for NPS
You must place your withdrawal request directly through the CRA platform by visiting Kfintech using your PRAN. You can follow these steps to place a request:
- You can visit the CRA portal (Kfintech) and log in using your PRAN.
- You can navigate to the Exit/Withdrawal section.
- You can submit the required documentation as per Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) guidelines.
Once you authorise the withdrawal request on the CRA portal, the CRA will credit the withdrawal amount to your registered bank account within T+3 working days (where T is the date of authorisation on the CRA portal), subject to bank processing timelines. In the case of superannuation, the CRA will credit the withdrawal amount to your registered bank account within T+3 working days, where T is the date of authorisation or retirement, whichever is later.