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Project what each of the three would build — then see, side by side, how they actually differ.
Educational estimates. PPF assumes a yearly deposit at the start of each year with annual compounding (current rate ~7.1%). EPF uses your total monthly EPF contribution growing by your annual increase (current rate ~8.25%). NPS projects to age 60, then splits the corpus using the normal-exit rule for non-government subscribers — the whole amount up to ₹8 lakh, otherwise up to 80% as a lump sum with at least 20% buying an annuity — and shows pension at your assumed annuity rate. How much of that is taxed is set separately from how much you may withdraw. Real returns, rates, and tax rules change — treat these as directional.
The calculator above projects each account from figures you supply. This is the part it cannot show you — the rules that decide whether an account is even open to you, how long the money stays put, and what you are left holding at the end.
Tax is deliberately not a row in this table. The three are treated differently when money goes in, while it sits there, and when it comes out — and those rules have changed more than once. The calculator above models no tax at all. Check the current position with the Income Tax Department or a qualified CA before relying on any after-tax figure.
Which of the three suits you is not something a table can settle. It turns on your job, what else you are already saving into, and how long you can leave money alone. This page shows how the three behave; it does not pick one for you.
Combine these with the retirement calculator to check you're on track.
In short
Three separate projections in one place, because these three accounts compound differently. PPF takes one deposit a year and compounds annually. EPF takes a monthly contribution that steps up each year and compounds monthly. NPS takes a level monthly contribution to age 60 and then splits the corpus under the exit rules.
Because it credits interest annually on a yearly deposit, while EPF and NPS build month by month. Modelling PPF monthly would overstate it; modelling the other two annually would understate them.
PPF is notified quarterly by the Ministry of Finance and EPF is declared annually by EPFO — both are linked in the sources below. NPS has no such figure to look up because it is market-linked, so whatever you enter there is your own assumption.
Because below a threshold the regulator allows full withdrawal — an annuity on a very small corpus would pay too little each month to be worth the arrangement. Above that threshold a minimum share must buy an annuity.
That is not a question a calculator can answer, and any page that answers it flatly is guessing about you. What can be set out is how the two differ: PPF is open to any resident individual, capped at a fixed amount each year, carries a rate the Ministry of Finance notifies quarterly, and pays out the whole balance after 15 financial years. NPS is open from age 18 to 70, has no upper contribution limit, is market-linked with no declared rate, locks money until age 60, and requires part of the corpus to buy an annuity at exit. The comparison table on this page sets all of that out side by side, and the calculator projects each from figures you supply. Which fits your circumstances is a question for a SEBI-registered adviser, not a tool.
No, and the differences run through all three stages — what you put in, what accrues while it sits there, and what comes out at the end. Those rules have each been amended more than once, which is why this page states none of them and this calculator models no tax at all: a projection here is a pre-tax balance. Check the current position with the Income Tax Department or a qualified CA before relying on any after-tax figure.
PPF sits in the small-savings family, whose rates the Department of Economic Affairs notifies each quarter. This page carries no rate of its own — the field is yours to set from the current notification.
Declares the provident-fund rate for each financial year, after approval by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Interest runs on a monthly balance but is credited at year end.
The pension regulator sets the exit rules this page applies, including the lump-sum ceiling, the annuity floor and the small-corpus threshold. These have been amended, so check the current regulations before acting on the split shown.
This tool gives you a number. These free WealQuest lessons explain the idea it rests on — in English and हिंदी, no sign-up.
This explains the maths behind the tool so you can trust the number. It is educational information, not financial advice.