EPF vs PPF vs NPS Comparison

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TOOLEPF vs PPF vs NPS Comparison

Project your corpus in all three

Enter one monthly amount — the projector applies it to EPF, PPF and NPS the same way, so the comparison is rupee-for-rupee, not apples-to-oranges.

Monthly investment₹10,000

Current age28 yrs

Retirement age60 yrs

NPS expected return10%

Market-linked — your assumption, not a guarantee

EPF

Employees' Provident Fund

EEE

₹1.87 Cr

projected corpus at retirement

Total invested₹38,40,000

Interest/growth₹1,49,04,995

8.25% p.a. — EPFO declared rate, FY 2024-25

Locked till retirement or 2 months' continuous unemployment; earlier partial withdrawal only for home purchase, medical emergency, marriage or education.

Employee contribution only — excludes the employer's matching 12% share and EPS carve-out.

Exact EPF Calculator →

PPF

Public Provident Fund

EEE

₹1.44 Cr

projected corpus at retirement

Total invested₹38,40,000

Interest/growth₹1,06,04,427

7.1% p.a. — small savings rate, as of Q1 FY 2024-25

15-year lock-in, extendable in 5-year blocks; partial withdrawal allowed from year 7.

Assumes the account is renewed in 5-year blocks with continued contributions past year 15.

Exact PPF Calculator →

NPS

National Pension System

EET-partial

₹2.79 Cr

projected corpus at retirement

Total invested₹38,40,000

Interest/growth₹2,40,11,259

10% p.a. — market-linked, your assumption

Locked till 60; at least 40% of the corpus must buy an annuity, up to 60% is withdrawable tax-free.

At exit: ₹1.67 Cr tax-free lump sum + ₹1.11 Cr locked into an annuity for monthly pension income (which IS taxed as regular income when received).

Exact NPS Calculator →

Every simplification, stated plainly

This projector assumes the same ₹10,000/month goes into all three schemes so the comparison is fair. Real EPF corpus is larger once you add your employer's matching 12% contribution. Real PPF and EPF returns are government-declared and reset periodically — 7.1% and 8.25% are the last confirmed rates, not permanent. NPS has no declared rate at all; the 10% above is a slider you control, not a promise from any fund manager.

Who should pick what

Salaried with an active employer EPF match

Max out EPF first — the employer's matching 12% contribution is a guaranteed return no other scheme here gives you for free. Top up 80C elsewhere only after that.

Self-employed or want zero market risk

PPF is the pick: 7.1% government-backed, fully tax-free (EEE), and the principal can never be marked down. The only real cost is committing to a 15-year account.

Under 35 and want equity-linked growth

NPS, for the extra ₹50,000 Section 80CCD(1B) deduction and up to 75% equity allocation — no other scheme in this comparison offers either. Accept the mandatory 40% annuity lock as the trade-off.

Need the exact number for your own numbers?

This projector simplifies each scheme to make the three comparable. For your actual Basic+DA, VPF rate, or annuity split, use the dedicated calculator for that scheme.

EPF Calculator →PPF Calculator →NPS Calculator →

Full comparison matrix

Rates and rules as officially declared — not projections. Government-backed rates reset periodically; verify the current quarter before investing.

Factor	EPF	PPF	NPS
Current return	8.25% p.a. (EPFO, declared for FY 2024-25)	7.1% p.a. (small savings rate, unchanged since Apr 2020, as of Q1 FY 2024-25)	Market-linked — no fixed rate; historically ~9-12% for equity-heavy allocations
Tax on contribution	80C deduction up to ₹1.5L/year (employee's 12% is mandatory)	80C deduction up to ₹1.5L/year	80CCD(1) within 80C ₹1.5L + 80CCD(1B) extra ₹50,000 + 80CCD(2) employer share, uncapped
Tax on interest/growth	Tax-free	Tax-free	Tax-deferred — no tax while invested
Tax on maturity/exit	Tax-free after 5+ years of continuous service; taxable if withdrawn earlier	Fully tax-free (EEE)	60% lump sum tax-free; annuity purchase is tax-free but the pension it pays out is taxed as income
Lock-in period	Till retirement or 2 months of continuous unemployment	15 years, extendable indefinitely in 5-year blocks	Till age 60 (Tier I account)
Partial withdrawal	Allowed for home purchase, medical treatment, marriage or education after qualifying service	One withdrawal/year from year 7, capped by a set formula	Up to 25% of own contributions, max 3 times, specific reasons, after 3 years
Who can invest	Salaried employees at EPFO-covered establishments (20+ employees)	Any resident Indian individual, including minors via a guardian	Any Indian citizen aged 18-70, salaried or self-employed
Employer contribution	Yes — mandatory matching 12% of Basic+DA, split between EPF and EPS	None	Optional — common in corporate NPS under Section 80CCD(2)
Risk profile	Zero market risk — government-declared rate	Zero market risk — government-declared rate	Market-linked — equity, corporate debt and government securities, allocation you choose
Annuity requirement	None	None	Minimum 40% of the corpus must purchase an annuity at exit

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TL;DR

Side-by-side projector: enter one monthly amount and see the corpus EPF (8.25%), PPF (7.1%) and NPS (market-linked, adjustable) would build by retirement.
EPF and PPF are both EEE (fully tax-free); NPS is EET-partial — 60% lump sum is tax-free but the mandatory 40% annuity payout is taxed as income when received.
Salaried with employer EPF match: max that first. Conservative or self-employed: PPF. Under 35 wanting equity exposure: NPS.

About EPF vs PPF vs NPS Comparison

EPF, PPF and NPS all sit under Section 80C or 80CCD, all target retirement, and comparison articles usually explain them one at a time in prose — which makes it hard to see how they actually stack up for the same rupee. This tool puts one monthly investment amount through all three schemes' real math side by side, states every simplification it makes, and follows the projection with the full official comparison matrix: tax treatment, lock-in rules, and who can invest in each.

How It Works

The projector runs three independent formulas off the same monthly investment and time horizon. PPF uses simplified annual compounding — your monthly figure times 12 becomes the annual deposit, capped at the Rs 1,50,000 80C ceiling, matching the standalone PPF Calculator's methodology. EPF uses monthly compounding at the EPFO-declared rate, counting only your own contribution (no employer match or EPS split, which is explicitly noted as a simplification — real EPF corpus is larger once employer contributions are added). NPS uses the same future-value-of-annuity formula as the standalone NPS Calculator, but with a return rate you control via slider, since NPS has no declared rate.

Below the projector, a static comparison matrix lays out ten factors — current return, tax treatment at each of the three EEE/EET stages, lock-in period, partial-withdrawal rules, who is eligible, employer contribution, risk profile, and annuity requirement — sourced from officially declared rates and statutory rules rather than the projector's simplified model. A three-line verdict strip then gives a direct, extractable answer for the three most common situations: already have employer EPF, want zero market risk, or want equity exposure while young.

Who Is This For

A salaried employee deciding whether to increase Voluntary PF, open a fresh PPF account, or start an NPS Tier I account for the extra 80CCD(1B) deduction.

Someone comparing the guaranteed-but-fixed EPF/PPF return against the market-linked-but-higher-potential NPS return before committing a fixed monthly budget.

A freelancer or self-employed person without EPF access trying to decide between PPF alone and a PPF-plus-NPS combination.

An HR or payroll team pointing new employees to a single page instead of three separate calculators during onboarding or tax-declaration season.

Scope note: The projector simplifies each scheme to make a fair rupee-for-rupee comparison: it ignores EPF employer contributions and the EPS pension carve-out, assumes PPF accounts are renewed indefinitely in 5-year blocks past the 15-year term, and treats NPS returns as a fixed rate rather than the variable, allocation-dependent returns real NPS funds deliver. Government-declared rates (EPF 8.25% FY 2024-25, PPF 7.1% as of Q1 FY 2024-25) reset periodically — verify the current quarter's declared rate before making an investment decision. This is a planning estimate, not financial or tax advice — confirm your final allocation with a qualified financial advisor or Chartered Accountant.

Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Results are estimates based on publicly available tax slabs and formulas. Consult a qualified Chartered Accountant, tax professional, or financial advisor for guidance specific to your situation. Built and maintained by the WOWHOW Team with 14+ years of software development experience.

How to Use

Enter your monthly investment amount — the projector applies the exact same figure to EPF, PPF and NPS

Set your current age and target retirement age

Adjust the NPS expected return slider — NPS is market-linked, so this is your assumption, not a fixed rate

Read the three result cards for projected corpus, tax treatment and liquidity, then check the full comparison matrix and verdict strip below

Frequently Asked Questions

There is no single winner — it depends on what you already have access to. If your employer contributes to EPF, that match is a guaranteed return no other scheme here gives you for free, so maxing it out first is almost always correct. If you are self-employed or want zero market risk, PPF's 7.1% government-backed, fully tax-free return is the simplest choice. If you are younger and want equity exposure plus an extra Rs 50,000 deduction beyond the Rs 1.5 lakh 80C limit, NPS is the only one of the three that offers both — at the cost of a mandatory 40% annuity lock-in at exit.

For safety and simplicity, yes — PPF is fully tax-free (EEE) with a government-declared, market-risk-free rate, and every rupee is accessible as a lump sum at maturity. NPS trades that safety for higher long-term growth potential through equity allocation (up to 75%), but locks a minimum of 40% of the final corpus into a mandatory annuity, and the pension income that annuity pays out is taxed as regular income — so NPS is not strictly "better," it is a different risk-return trade for a different goal.

Yes. There is no rule preventing a salaried employee from having an active EPF account through their employer and also opening a personal PPF account. Both count toward the same Section 80C limit of Rs 1,50,000/year combined, though — so if your EPF contribution (12% of Basic+DA) already uses up most of that limit, additional PPF investment beyond the combined Rs 1.5 lakh cap earns no further 80C deduction, even though it still earns tax-free interest.

Yes, and many salaried Indians do exactly this. A common structure is: EPF through the employer (near-mandatory, includes employer match), PPF for a guaranteed tax-free lump sum outside the volatility of markets, and NPS specifically for the extra Rs 50,000 deduction under Section 80CCD(1B), which sits over and above the Rs 1.5 lakh 80C limit that EPF and PPF share. Run your own numbers through the projector above to see how much each would need per month to hit a target corpus.

EEE means Exempt-Exempt-Exempt — the contribution, the interest/growth, and the maturity amount are all tax-free. EPF and PPF are both EEE. NPS is EET-partial: contributions are exempt and growth is tax-deferred, but at exit only 60% of the corpus can be withdrawn as a tax-free lump sum — the remaining 40% must buy an annuity, and the pension payouts from that annuity are taxed as regular income in the year you receive them. Over a 20-30 year horizon, that difference in the last stage can matter more than the headline return rate.

Historically NPS, because of its equity allocation — but it is also the only one of the three without a government-declared, guaranteed rate. EPF (8.25% for FY 2024-25) and PPF (7.1%, small savings rate) are both fixed, government-backed returns with zero market risk. NPS returns are not fixed; they depend on your chosen asset allocation between equity, corporate debt and government securities, and can go up or down with the market in any given year, though historically diversified NPS portfolios have delivered higher long-term returns than EPF or PPF.

No — the three have meaningfully different liquidity rules. EPF is locked until retirement or a continuous 2-month gap in employment, with narrower partial-withdrawal exceptions for home purchase, medical treatment, marriage or education. PPF has a fixed 15-year term, extendable indefinitely in 5-year blocks, with partial withdrawal allowed from year 7. NPS (Tier I) is locked until age 60, with limited partial withdrawals (up to 25% of your own contributions, maximum 3 times) allowed after 3 years for specific reasons — and even at 60, a minimum 40% of the corpus stays locked into an annuity.