National Pension System

New Pension System (NPS) is an initiative taken by Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA). The scheme is aimed at promoting income security for its investors during their old age and is also an investment tool that provides market-based returns.

Axis Bank has been appointed by PFRDA to act as one of the Points of Presence (POP) for the NPS. Presently, Axis Bank has designated 2316 branches to carry out the NPS activities as Point of Presence - Service Providers (POP-SP). PFRDA has introduced two models under the New Pension System:

• All Citizens Model - Available to all citizens of India
• NPS Corporate Sector Model - Provide NPS benefits to the employees of corporate entities

This model is applicable to all Citizens of India and NRIs falling between the age group of 18 years to 60 years. Under NPS, two types of accounts are available to the subscriber - Tier I and Tier II. The contributions in Tier I account are savings for retirement and are non-withdrawable. Tier II account is a voluntary saving account.

• Tier 1
  • Minimum Contribution of Rs. 500 per contribution
  • Minimum Contribution Rs. 1,000/- p.a.
  • Minimum number of contribution – one p.a.
• Tier 2
  • Minimum Contribution of Rs. 1,000 at the time of Account opening
  • Minimum number of contribution – one p.a..

NPS offers two approaches to invest money:

Active Choice- A subscriber has a choice of 6 Pension Fund Managers (PFM) and 3 Asset Classes for investment i.e. E, C, and G.

Auto Choice- Lifecycle Fund (Please refer to the Offer Document for Table for Lifecycle Fund)

Withdrawal is taxable under EET model Tier 1

No withdrawals allowed during vesting period except as per the norms prescribed by PFRDA Tier 2

No limit on withdrawals

**Failing minimum investment criteria leads to freezing of PRAN account as per the guidelines of PFRDA

The scheme features are common as in All Citizen Model. The differentiating features are as listed below:

• Corporate may join NPS through MOUs with any one of our existing authorized branches
• The employees will come under NPS within the purview of employer-employee relationship
• Corporates can co-contribute for employees’ pension, select PFM for its employees
• Employer can claim tax benefit for the amount contributed towards pension of employees’ upto 10% of salary (Basic+DA) under ‘Business Expense’
• Employees contribution is eligible for tax exemption as per the Income Tax Act, 1961
• Under the Corporate plan, registered employees (subscriber) have individual PRAN, portability across employment, sector and geography