Come January 1, 2023, all the government sector — Central, State and autonomous bodies—NPS subscribers can go in for partial withdrawal of their National Pension System (NPS) corpus only through their associated nodal offices.
The earlier available Covid-19 period regime of direct online applications on a self-declaration basis would now stand withdrawn for government sector NPS subscribers from January 1, PFRDA has said.
This latest Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) move would mean that the Government sector NPS subscribers would have to furnish supporting documents to substantiate the reasons for partial withdrawal.
Earlier, the PFRDA had in January 2021 — in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic—allowed a special dispensation where NPS subscribers could make online applications — without authorisation from nodal officers/PoPs—for partial withdrawal on a self-declaration basis.
This was allowed to help NPS subscribers cope with the Covid-19 pandemic and ease the burden of nodal officers, including POPs from verification and authorisation.
“With the abating of the pandemic-related difficulties and relaxation of lock down restrictions….. it has been decided to make it mandatory for all the Government sector subscribers (Central/ State Govt & Central/State Autonomous Bodies) to submit their requests through their associated nodal offices”, said a PFRDA circular.
However, the partial withdrawal facility through the self-declaration process will remain available for voluntary non-government NPS subscribers (All citizens model and Corporate sector), the latest circular added.
PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL
Currently, subscribers to NPS can prematurely withdraw from their NPS corpus only after the completion of three years. The withdrawal amount cannot exceed 25 per cent of the contributions made by them.
Also, the subscribers can make a partial withdrawal — permitted only for specified reasons—for a maximum of three times during the entire tenure of subscription under NPS.