NPS Calculator (National Pension System)

How to use this NPS calculator

1. Enter your monthly contribution to NPS Tier I, including your employer's share if you have corporate or government NPS.
2. Enter your age now and your age at exit. The normal exit age is 60; you can set a later one.
3. Set an expected return and, if your contribution will rise with your salary, a yearly increase.
4. Choose whether you are a government employee. It sets the minimum share of the corpus that must buy an annuity: 20% for everyone else, 40% for government employees.
5. Pick the annuity share and an annuity rate. The calculator starts at the minimum share and 6%.
6. Open "More options" to add the NPS corpus you already have.

How the calculator works

Your contributions are invested by NPS pension funds in the schemes you choose. Their returns are market-linked: they are not guaranteed and change from year to year. The calculator uses one steady return you choose, so treat the result as an estimate. At exit, part of the corpus must buy an annuity, a pension for life from an insurer; the rest is yours as a lump sum.

NPS corpus by monthly contribution and starting age

Estimated corpus at 60, at an assumed 10% a year, with the same contribution every month:

₹10,000 a month from 25 means ₹42 lakh of contributions; from 40 it is ₹24 lakh, but the corpus is a fifth of the size, because the early years have the longest to grow.

Estimated monthly pension from the minimum 20% annuity at 6%, with 80% taken as a lump sum:

The lump sums are four times the annuity: for ₹10,000 a month from 30, ₹1,82,34,603 as a lump sum and ₹45,58,651 for the annuity. A government employee must put at least 40% into the annuity, which doubles these pensions and cuts the lump sum to 60%.

How much to put into the annuity

The minimum is only a floor: you can use more of the corpus for the annuity. For the worked example's ₹1,13,96,627 corpus, with an annuity rate of 6%:

A bigger lump sum gives you control of the money, but you then have to invest it and make it last. An annuity pays for life, however long you live, but the income is fixed when you buy it and is taxable. The rate matters too: on the same ₹22,79,325, an annuity at 5% would pay about ₹9,497 a month and one at 7% about ₹13,296.

Returns are estimates, not promises

The 10% starting figure is an assumption, the same one NPS Trust's own pension calculator starts with, not a forecast. Over 30 years small differences add up: ₹5,000 a month from 30 reaches about ₹75,01,476 at 8%, ₹1,13,96,627 at 10% and ₹1,76,49,569 at 12%. Run a cautious figure as well as a hopeful one, and remember the corpus is in future rupees, which will buy less than rupees today.

NPS exit rules at 60

PFRDA changed the exit rules for Tier I with effect from 16 December 2025. On normal exit, at 60 or on retirement:

• When you can exit. Non-government subscribers can exit normally at 60, on retirement or after 15 years in NPS. Government employees exit on retirement under their service rules. Corporate subscribers of government-owned bodies follow the government rules.
• Up to 85. You can stay in NPS after becoming eligible and put off the lump sum or the annuity purchase until 85, exiting at any time before then. Charges carry on while you stay.
• Lump sum or instalments. The non-annuity part can be taken at once or through systematic lump sum withdrawals or unit redemptions.
• Leaving early. A voluntary exit before you are eligible means at least 80% buys an annuity, unless the corpus is ₹5 lakh or less.

Annuity rates are set by each insurer and depend on the annuity type and your age when you buy, so the 6% here is an assumption. Central Government employees who moved to the Unified Pension Scheme follow that scheme's rules instead.

Tax on NPS in 2026-27

Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, which applies from 2026-27:

• Your contributions reduce your tax only in the old regime: they count towards the ₹1.5 lakh yearly limit (up to 10% of basic + DA for employees, 20% of gross total income for others), and up to ₹50,000 more is deductible on top.
• Your employer's contributions are deductible up to 14% of your basic + DA in the new regime. In the old regime the limit is 10%, or 14% for government employers. Employer contributions to NPS, PF and superannuation above ₹7.5 lakh a year in total are taxed as salary.
• At exit, up to 60% of the corpus is tax-free. Anything you take as a lump sum above that is added to your income for the year and taxed at slab rates. In the worked example, taking 80% makes ₹22,79,325 taxable; on its own, that would mean ₹2,80,625 of tax at 2026-27 new-regime rates.
• The annuity is not taxed when you buy it, but the pension it pays is taxed at your slab rate every year.

NPS sits alongside your other retirement savings. If you are salaried, the EPF calculator shows your provident fund at 58 and the gratuity calculator your gratuity; PPF offers a government-set, tax-free rate. Bring them together in the retirement corpus calculator, and compare the regimes with the income tax calculator.

This calculator gives estimates for education and planning. It is not financial advice, and your lender's figures may differ. See how we calculate.