NPS Tier II account – Why should you have it?

 The National Pension System (NPS) offers two types of accounts: NPS Tier I and NPS Tier II. Tier I is a compulsory pension account while Tier II is an optional facility provided to NPS Tier I account holders which can be opened at the discretion of subscriber.  

Benefits of NPS Tier II: 

1. Ease of account opening: You can activate your NPS Tier II account offline or online through your Nodal Office or NPS Mobile App, provided you have an active and operational NPS Tier I account. NPS Tier II account can be opened with an initial contribution of Rs 1,000 and the minimum subsequent contribution amount for this account is Rs. 250.  With the activation of NPS Tier II account, subscribers are free to invest / withdraw whenever they wish to, without any limits. 
2. Flexibility to invest: An NPS Tier II subscriber is free to select any of the registered Pension Fund (PF) and Investment Options as like in NPS Tier I account to get the benefit of professional fund management to generate superior returns.  
3. Optimal Returns: NPS is a market-linked product and depending on risk appetite of the subscriber, he/she can decide a suitable asset allocation pattern (among Equity, Corporate Bonds and Government Securities) within the prescribed limits to derive optimal returns.   
4. Low Cost: NPS carries the benefit of being the lowest cost pension product in the world. The overall costs in NPS are the lowest due to economies of scale in operations of the system architecture. Also, accumulation of the retirement corpus over a period gets accelerated on account of the compounding effect and nominal charges borne by the subscriber.  
5. Tax benefits: Exclusive tax benefits on contributions made to Tier II are available for Central Government subscribers subject to lock-in of 3 years, upto Rs 1.5 lakhs under section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The capital gains arising about of Tier-II investments are taxable at marginal rate. 
6. Ease of access and transfer: NPS Tier II account can be operated (including withdrawals) through online/Mobile App. Subscribers are also enabled to transfer funds from his/her Tier II account to NPS Tier I (pension account).