NPS's biggest makeover yet: 100% equity option transforms retirement planning

The National Pension System (NPS) is a special savings plan that helps people in India build money for their retirement years.

A government regulator called PFRDA has made the biggest changes ever to this plan.

Earlier, people could only put up to 75% of their NPS money into stocks, but now they can choose to put up to 100% in, which could grow faster but also comes with more risk.

People can now keep several different savings strategies in one NPS account, each looked after by a different money manager.

This is called the Multiple Scheme Framework.

Money managers can charge no more than 0.30% of the account value for this new service.

The money has to stay invested for at least 15 years, so this is for long-term savers.

When people retire, they can now take out up to 80% of their savings at once.

There are also plans to let the rest of the money keep growing while giving a regular income until the person turns 85.

These changes help because people today often spend 20-25 years in retirement, and only about 12% of India's workers have any formal pension.