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Eligibility Criteria for NPS

The eligibility criteria to open an NPS account for various categories is as follows:

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You are eligible to open your NPS account if you are a citizen of India whether resident, non-resident or an Overseas Citizen of India , if you fulfil the following conditions:

  • You should be between 18 and 70 years of age as on the date of submission of your application to the PoP / PoP-SP, or online through e-NPS.
  • You need to comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms as per the Subscriber Registration Form (SRF). You need to mandatorily submit all the documents required for KYC compliance.

However, Hindu Undivided Families and Persons of Indian Origin are not eligible for subscribing to NPS.

NPS is an individual pension account and cannot be opened on behalf of a third person.

The Central Government introduced NPS for all Central Government employees from January 1, 2004, except for the Armed Forces.

Thus, all Central Government employees joining on or after January 1, 2004, are mandatorily covered under the NPS scheme.

NPS is also extended to the employees of Central Autonomous Bodies (CABs) joining on or after January 1, 2004.

As per the notification by the Ministry of Finance, CABs are allowed to contribute to the NPS account of their employees who have joined before January 1, 2004.

Employees of the State Government/ UT adopting NPS are covered under NPS.

NPS is also extended to the employees of State Autonomous Bodies that have adopted NPS.

You are eligible to open your NPS account if you work in any corporate and fulfil the following conditions:

  • Your corporate has adopted the NPS scheme.
  • You are a citizen of India, be it a resident, a non-resident or an Overseas Citizen of India.
  • You should be between 18 and 70 years of age.
  • You need to comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.

The corporate model is available to the following entities:

  • Entities registered under the Companies Act, 2013 or a cooperative society registered under any law relating to Cooperative Societies.
  • Bodies established or incorporated under any Act of Parliament or any law enacted by a state legislature or under any order or notification issued by the Central / state governments.
  • Public Sector Enterprises or a government company.
  • Registered Partnership Firms.
  • Limited Liability Partnerships.
  • Proprietary Concerns.
  • Trusts / Society.
  • Foreign companies having registration under Section 591-608 of the Companies Act, 1956 in respect of their eligible Indian employee(s).
  • Foreign / diplomatic missions operating in India (Embassy / High Commission / Consulate, etc.) in respect of their eligible Indian employee(s).
  • International organizations operating in India (UN / WHO / World Bank / ADB / IMF, etc.) in respect of their eligible Indian employee(s).

An employer has the following options for the implementation of NPS for its employees:

  • Obtain registration from the PFRDA as a PoP; or
  • Register with a CRA as an employer / corporate under NPS Corporate Model by applying as Corporate Head Office (CHO) through a registered PoP.