After leftover 80C is zero, well-meaning colleagues still say “put ₹50,000 in NPS for extra tax benefit.” Sometimes that is correct. Sometimes it is a lock-in you will hate at 48. The NPS calculator can show a corpus and a pension illustration. It cannot tell you whether 80CCD(1B) is worth the rules.
What I model versus what PFRDA decides
The tool compounds contributions at an expected return you type, with the usual split story (equity versus debt is a slider or assumption on the page, not your actual PRAN allocation). It is the same class of illustration as SIP at 12%: a constant rate, not a CRA statement. At the end it may show a lump and a pension-like number from a simple drawdown or annuity stub. Real NPS exit mixes a lump-sum cap and an annuity purchase under rules that change. I will not hard-code a 40% annuity as if it were physics. Read the current PFRDA / NPS Trust documents when you are close to 60.
The deduction is real; the liquidity is not
₹50,000 × your slab is the tax story (plus cess in a real ITR). In the 30% slab that is meaningful. In the 5% slab it is a small refund for a long freeze. Partial withdrawals exist with conditions. Treating NPS like a liquid SIP because “it is also retirement” is how people get stuck. If your 15-year goal is a house, NPS is the wrong bucket. Use the goal planner for the house and NPS only for money you can imagine not touching until the scheme allows.
Employer NPS is a different line
Corporate NPS / 80CCD(2) is not this ₹50,000. Do not double-count employer contribution as 80CCD(1B). Form 16 is the source. The calculator does not import payroll.
After you decide the deduction is worth the lock, type a conservative return (equity-heavy NPS is not 12% every year) and compare the corpus to what the retirement calculator says you need. NPS is one sleeve. EPF, PPF, SIPs, and a house are others. Adding the NPS maturity to a SIP screenshot without inflation is the same lie as everywhere else on this site deflate it.
I am not a SEBI-registered adviser or a Point of Presence. Account opening, KYC, and scheme choice happen on official NPS channels.