How To Open Nps Account?

By Author: Neha Sharma
Total Articles: 243

"National Pension Scheme is a scheme that provides a monthly pension for the subscriber after retirement. Under the NPS, the subscriber has to make a contribution every year which gets invested in different funds. On retirement, a part of the corpus can be withdrawn by the subscriber while the balance has to be invested in an annuity scheme that gives monthly pension to the subscriber.

The first step to investing in the NPS is to open an account. Opening an account is an extremely simple process. There are two ways to open an NPS account:
Online account opening:

It is possible to open an account for NPS online. This process can be done on the NSDL website. There is a form to be filled up with details of the person such as :
• Account type i.e Tier I or Tier II
• Individual or corporate subscriber
• Citizen or Non Resident Indian
• Name of existing bank
• Personal details such as name, gender, date of birth, country, marital status, mobile number, email address, family details
• Bank details such as name of bank, bank branch, account number, IFSC code
• Nomination details such as name of nominee, relation to the subscriber etc.
• Identity details i.e PAN number, Passport number, Voter ID

After all these details have been filled up, a scanned copy of the subscriber’s signature has to be uploaded. Along with this, KYC documents also have to be uploaded. After this, the system takes the subscriber to a payment gateway to make the minimum contribution of Rs. 500 to the account.

Offline account opening:
An offline account opening procedure exists for people who can’t open their accounts online. For this, the subscriber has to visit any Point of Presence Service Provider (POP-SP) designated under NPS. The list of such POP-SP is given on the NPS website.
At the POP-SP, the subscriber needs to fill up a form with all the mandatory details. Along with this, a photograph needs to be stuck on the form. The required KYC details need to be attached and the minimum contribution amount has to be paid.
NRIs can also open an account under National Pension Scheme. They need to update details of their Non Resident External (NRE) or Non Resident Ordinary (NRO) account and add a scanned copy of their passport to their application.

To open an NPS account, you need a Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) . A card containing the PRAN and the subscriber details will be sent to the subscriber by post or courier. Once the PRAN is received, the subscriber has to either e-sign it or physically sign it and courier it to the Central Recordkeeping Agency or CRA for their records.

Author Bio:- Neha Sharma is a finance student who loves to write in her free time. She has spent considerable time researching about national pension scheme. Through her work, she explains how to open one