Did you close NPS account prematurely? Here is how to rejoin

National Pension Scheme (NPS) is one of the best investment options to build a retirement corpus. The scheme is backed by the government and offers a good rate of return. Administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), NPS offers tax-saving benefits to the subscribers. If you withdraw money from NPS, it is considered as closure of individual pension account of the subscriber under National Pension System. 

In its latest communication, PFRDA said that nowadays, it has been receiving a lot of requests from subscribers who have withdrawn their lump sum but have not yet availed the Annuity, and those subscribers subsequently decide to continue the NPS Account. 

If there is a change of mind after the exit, there are two ways through which you can rejoin the scheme:  

1. Open a new NPS account with a new PRAN if they are otherwise eligible to join NPS. 

2. Continue in NPS with the same PRAN by redepositing the amount withdrawn earlier (up to 20%), into their NPS account (PRAN). The option of redeposit to continue the existing PRAN can be availed only once and needs to be deposited in one lump sum. 

"Under NPS, a subscriber can opt to either premature exit or opt for final exit at the age of 60 years or on attaining superannuation or any time later as per regulations. In case of premature exit, up to 20% of the accumulated pension corpus in the PRAN can be withdrawn as lump sum and balance (80% or above) has to be utilized to buy annuity plan from an Annuity Service Providers (ASP) empanelled by PFRDA,” the official statement reads.  

Rejoining the scheme also you to redeposit the amount withdrawn earlier and facilitating further accumulation in an uninterrupted manner to those NPS subscribers who have partly exited from NPS but wish to continue in NPS with the same PRAN.