15 years of NPS: Everything you want to know about the ubiquitous retirement scheme

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Having been introduced on May 1, 2009 for all citizens of India; National Pension System (NPS) has recently completed 15 years of its existence.

The Government of India introduced NPS from Jan 1, 2004 (except for armed forces) before rolling it for the general public five years later.  The scheme is aimed at providing pension cum investment as security for old age to the citizens of India. It enables citizens to effectively plan their retirement through safe and regulated market-based return.

Let us give a lowdown on the ubiquitous retirement saving scheme. 

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It is a pension cum investment scheme launched which provides old age security to Citizens of India. It gives a long-term saving avenue to effectively plan your retirement through safe and regulated market-based return. It is regulated by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). 

Established by PFRDA, National Pension System Trust (NPST) is the registered owner of all assets under NPS.

Any individual citizen (resident as well as non-resident) who fall in the age group of 18 to 70 years can join NPS.

NPS has three key objectives:

A. Provide old age income

B. Reasonable market-based returns over the long term

C Extending old age security coverage to all citizens

Yes, NRI can also open an NPS account. Contributions made by NRI are subject to regulatory requirements as prescribed by RBI and FEMA from time to time. However, OCI (Overseas Citizens of India) and PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card holders and HUFs are not eligible for opening of NPS accounts.

In order to open an account, you need to do one of the two:

I. Visiting point of presence