If you have invested in Tier-I plan, premature withdrawal is not allowed from the scheme, however for some specific purposes as listed below can be stated for partial withdrawal:

• for expenses towards higher education/marriage of children,
• purchase/construction of the residential house (in specified conditions), and
• treatment of critical illnesses.

You can make a partial withdrawal a maximum of three times during the entire tenure of subscription under NPS. The maximum allowed limit for partial withdrawal is 25% of the contributions made by the subscriber as on the date of application for withdrawal.

However, if you close your NPS before retirement, you can withdraw upto 20% of the corpus and remaining 80% will have to be utilized for purchase of annuity.
Investor in Tier II plan can withdraw money anytime, but it will be taxable at the slab rate.