If you leave it alone
Mock dataWithdrawing at a job change is the most expensive habit in this scheme.
The balance is not sitting still. This is what the same money is worth if it is left where it is, and what taking it out today costs in the end.
23 years
23 years remain until you turn 58.
Contributions
Nothing more goes in. Interest still accrues.
Left alone for 23 years
₹19,80,565 – ₹22,25,778
About 20.4 lakh rupees at the middle of the range.
- Paid in, by you and your employer
- ₹3,30,216
- Added by interest alone
- ₹17,14,533
Taken out today
₹3,30,216
Nothing is deducted.
The difference
₹17,14,533
What the same money would have been worth in 23 years, less what taking it now actually puts in your hand.
The trajectory
Mock dataWhy this is a range and not a number
The interest rate is declared once a year by the Central Board of Trustees and it moves. Any calculator that shows you a single figure thirty years out is telling you something it cannot know. The band above runs from 8.1% to 8.65%, which is the range actually declared in recent years; 8.25% is used for the middle.
- 2018–198.65%
- 2019–208.5%
- 2020–218.5%
- 2021–228.1%
- 2022–238.15%
- 2023–248.25%
Interest accrues on the balance you hold at the start of each month and is credited once at the end of the financial year — which is why a contribution paid in this month earns nothing until next. This projection follows that method rather than compounding monthly, which would flatter the result.
If you are changing jobs
Transferring the account keeps this trajectory intact and keeps the service counting toward your ten years for pension. Withdrawing resets both to zero.