National Pension Scheme Returns for Tier I and Tier II Accounts

The National Pension System (NPS) offers two Tiers for savings: Tier I, a primary retirement account with a 60-year lock-in, and Tier II, a flexible voluntary account. Returns for both depend on investments in corporate bonds, government securities, and equities, tailored to individual preferences and risk tolerance.

The returns of NPS typically depend on the account you choose. 

• NPS Returns for Tier I Accounts

The table below includes NPS Tier I returns for 1, 5, and 10 year tenors across various asset classes.

• NPS Returns for Tier II Accounts

While you have a fair idea of the approximate rate of interest in an NPS Tier I account, take a look at the table below to understand the NPS Tier II interest rate. The table below includes NPS Tier II returns for 1, 5- and 10-year tenors across various asset classes.

Note that the above rates are tentative and calculated based on the performance of these asset types in the market. As the scheme is market-linked, the NPS interest rate varies depending on the performance of equity and debt funds.

As the returns are linked to the market, the amount you receive depends entirely on the performance of your chosen funds. You can compute the expected returns using the NPS calculator. 

 

To get the results, input your monthly contributions, age, chosen scheme, and your anticipated NPS rate of return in the tool. The National Pension Scheme calculator will provide an estimate of your corpus and pension upon maturity. 

 

Consider the following hypothetical example to understand better.

 

Consider an NPS investor, aged 30 years, who makes a monthly NPS contribution of ₹5,000 until the age of retirement, i.e. 60 years. Assuming an NPS rate of return of 10%, the estimated NPS scheme returns using compound interest look like this: 

Now, if the investor chooses to purchase an annuity for 40% and withdraw the remainder of the corpus, the pension would be:

Note: These values have been calculated for illustrative purposes. The actual returns may vary depending on the prevailing interest rate.

By investing early on, you could earn better National Pension Scheme returns. This is because it gives you the time to build a larger corpus, thereby allowing you to capitalise on the power of compounding.