See your expected NPS savings at retirement, based on your monthly contribution and chosen return rate.
Uses the same compounding maths as a SIP calculator, since NPS contributions work the same way.
Corpus: SIP-style compounding
This calculator does one job: project the total value of your NPS account on the day you retire. You enter a monthly contribution, the number of years left and a return you think is reasonable, and it compounds those contributions forward to give a corpus, the amount you have invested and the growth on top.
Most NPS subscribers only see their current statement. Turning that into a future figure helps with big decisions. Should you increase your contribution after a salary hike? Is your employer contribution enough? A manager in Hyderabad in her early forties, with close to twenty working years left, can use it to test whether ₹15,000 a month gets her close to the retirement fund she has in mind.
1. Fix the monthly contribution P, including any employer contribution you want to count.
2. Choose an assumed annual return R and convert it to a monthly rate i = R ÷ 1200.
3. Count the months to retirement: n = 12 × years.
4. Apply the future value of an annuity due: Corpus = P × ((1 + i)^n − 1) ÷ i × (1 + i).
5. Compute total contributed = P × n.
6. Growth = corpus − total contributed. Compare how much of the corpus comes from growth rather than your own contributions.
In the corpus formula, the years appear in the exponent, while the contribution appears only as a multiplier. Doubling the contribution doubles the corpus. Adding ten years can more than double it, because the early contributions compound for much longer. At 10% a year compounded monthly, one rupee grows to about 2.7 in ten years, 7.3 in twenty and nearly 20 in thirty. This is why the first decade of contributions has an outsized effect on the final number.
The corpus shown is in future rupees. If inflation averages 6% a year, prices roughly triple in twenty years, so a projected ₹1.5 crore buys a little less than ₹50 lakh buys today. Divide the corpus by (1 + inflation)^years to see it at present-day prices. This does not make the projection wrong. It simply tells you what the number means for your standard of living, which is the real goal of retirement saving.
The formula assumes the same monthly amount every month. Most people's contributions rise as their pay rises, especially when the employer contributes a percentage of basic salary. A constant contribution therefore gives a conservative corpus for someone expecting regular raises. To model growth in contributions, a step-up SIP calculator is a better tool. For a quick estimate, you can also run this calculator at your expected average contribution over the years.
Kavita, a 42-year-old operations manager in Hyderabad, plans to contribute ₹15,000 a month to NPS for the next 18 years and assumes a 10% annual return.
Answer: Total corpus ₹90,83,519
Adding the full expected employer contribution when it is capped or depends on basic salary.
Picking a return rate based on the best recent year of an equity scheme.
Reading the corpus as present-day purchasing power.
Forgetting that part of the corpus must be annuitised at exit, so not all of it is a lump sum.
Setting a monthly NPS contribution target.
Checking progress toward a retirement goal at each salary revision.
Comparing the effect of starting now versus in five years.
Building a combined retirement picture with EPF and PPF.
What return should I assume for NPS equity exposure?
There is no fixed right answer — past NPS equity returns have varied a lot. Try a few different rates to see how much your expected savings change.