NPS Eligibility Criteria
Who can open and hold an NPS account — across individual citizens, corporate employees, government service, NRIs & OCIs, and minors.
Individual subscribers
Any Indian citizen can open an NPS account in their own name under the All-Citizen model — whether salaried, self-employed or a business owner. You join, contribute and manage the account yourself.
Read more — the exact entry rules, and who is not eligible
Any Indian citizen — resident or non-resident — aged 18 to 85 and KYC-compliant can open NPS in an individual capacity, regardless of profession. A single account holds a lifelong PRAN.
Generally not eligible
- Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs)
- Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs)
- Non-individual entities (trusts, firms)
- Persons not legally competent to contract
NPS is opened and operated in your own name — it cannot be held jointly or on behalf of an entity.
Corporate employees
Employees of a registered organisation can join NPS through their employer’s Corporate model. Tap a card for more.
See the full Corporate NPS page for employer details and tax treatment.
Read more — how the Corporate model works
In practice you join by giving the employer a Corporate Subscriber form; a new PRAN is generated if you do not have one, or your existing PRAN is mapped to the employer. Contributions are then deducted and remitted through payroll, and each credit shows up in your Statement of Transaction.
How it plays out
- The 80CCD(2) deduction on the employer share is separate from your own 80C and 80CCD(1B) limits
- It is also one of the few NPS breaks available under the new tax regime
- You can still make voluntary contributions and claim 80CCD(1B) yourself
- On resigning, the employer stops routing money and de-maps the PRAN
- You then continue it as an All-Citizen account or re-map it to a new employer
Government employees
NPS is the defined-contribution retirement system for most government employees who joined under the framework — with contributions from both the employee and the government.
Explore the full Government NPS page for coverage and contribution details.
Read more — central and state adoption, and contribution rates
The move to NPS marked a shift from the old defined-benefit pension, where the government promised a fixed payout, to a defined-contribution model where the pension depends on contributions and the market returns they earn. Employees who joined before the cut-off generally stayed on the earlier pension arrangement.
What is different in practice
- Contributions are a set percentage of basic pay plus DA, deducted from salary each month
- Government subscribers are placed in a default scheme and fund-manager mix unless they actively opt otherwise
- Their exit and withdrawal terms differ from the All-Citizen model
- Some government staff can now opt for the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), per the prevailing rules
NRI & OCI subscribers
Non-resident Indians and Overseas Citizens of India can build a retirement corpus in India through NPS.
Read more — FEMA rules and what happens if residency changes
For non-residents NPS is a Tier-I only account — the optional Tier-II wallet is generally not open to NRIs. The funding route decides how the money can come back: contributions from an NRE account are on a repatriable basis, while NRO funding is treated as non-repatriable.
Practical points
- The annuity and any payout are settled in India, in Indian rupees
- Keep your bank details and KYC updated if you move between countries
- If you become resident again, the same PRAN simply continues
- If a change of citizenship makes you ineligible, the account may have to be closed under the regulations
NPS Vatsalya eligibility
NPS Vatsalya lets a guardian open and run an NPS account for a minor child — giving contributions decades to compound before the account becomes the child’s own at 18.
See the dedicated NPS Vatsalya page for how it works and how to open one.
Read more — how NPS Vatsalya works and converts at 18
While the child is a minor the guardian runs everything — choosing the investment option and contributing on the child’s behalf, with no upper limit on how much can go in. The corpus grows in the child’s name, and limited partial withdrawals are allowed for the child’s needs after a minimum holding period, per the prevailing PFRDA rules.
What happens at 18
- The account is re-verified with fresh KYC in the young adult’s own name within the prescribed window
- It converts to a standard Tier-I All-Citizen account
- They can then continue contributing or exit under the rules for the corpus size
- The early start means contributions get decades of extra compounding
Common questions
Tap a question to read more.
What documents do I need to open an NPS account?
Standard KYC — proof of identity and address, PAN, a bank account and a photograph. You can complete it fully online through eNPS, or offline at a Point of Presence such as a bank.
Is NPS mandatory for government employees?
For most central government employees who joined on or after 1 January 2004 (and employees of states that adopted NPS), it is the applicable retirement framework. For everyone else — private employees, the self-employed, professionals — NPS is voluntary.
Can I open NPS if I already have EPF?
Yes. NPS is separate from EPF and can be held alongside it. Many salaried people use NPS to add a market-linked, tax-efficient layer on top of their provident fund.
How do NRIs and OCIs contribute?
Through NRE or NRO accounts, on a repatriable or non-repatriable basis, in line with FEMA. If your residency status changes later, the same account can generally continue under the applicable process.
What is a PRAN and why does it matter?
The Permanent Retirement Account Number is your unique, lifelong NPS identity. Every contribution, statement, tax benefit and withdrawal is tied to it — and it stays with you across jobs, cities and even a change of profession.