The subscribers of the National Pension System (NPS) will now be able to partially withdraw funds from their accounts to meet expenses related to the treatment of coronavirus. A recent order from the government allows that the NPS subscribers can make the request for partial withdrawals towards the treatment of the illness of subscriber, the legally wedded spouse, children, including a legally adopted child or dependent parent.

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Other rules to avail the partial withdrawal under the NPS scheme remains the same.

Also read: Want to withdraw EPF citing coronavirus? Claim process, tax treatment and other points explained

Here are the salient points related to help NPS subscribers understand the pension scheme and the recent partial withdrawal option:

A government-sponsored pension scheme, NPS was initially launched for government employees in January 2004. In 2009, the scheme was opened for all.

NPS enables the subscribers to set their own choice for fund allocation to different asset classes such as government bonds, equity market instruments and corporate debt.

The pension scheme offers 2 kinds of account — Tier 1 and Tier 2. While the Tier 1 NPS account is strictly a pension account which doesn't allow withdrawals, the Tier 2 account — known as investment account — is a voluntary saving account.

A subscriber cannot withdraw money from the NPS before the completion of three years.

Also read: PPF vs NPS: Find out which scheme suits you better

The NPS withdrawal amount cannot exceed 25 percent of contributions made by the subscribers.

The subscribers can make a partial withdrawal a maximum of three times during the entire tenure of subscription under NPS.

The partial withdrawal request can be initiated online by the subscriber. Alternatively, subscriber can submit physical partial withdrawal form along with documents.

In case of making partial withdrawal towards treatment for coronavirus, "the Nodal Office/PoPs/Aggregators would ensure that the subscriber has provided the medical certificate and formal request for partial withdrawal," the government had said.

In case the subscribers choose the online mode, they are required to log into their NPS account using your 12-digit Permanent Retirement Account Number (PRAN) and password to initiate an exit request.

They can also check the NPS withdrawal status under the menu 'Exit Withdrawal Request'.

Under the existing rules of the national pension system, these partial withdrawals are completely tax-free.