Ask Harsh Roongta anything on Personal Finance: You cannot join the NPS after reaching the age of 60 years

I am a salaried person and have an on-going home loan from SBI. I intend to purchase commercial property either a shop or an office space after my home loan ends. Can I purchase a property by availing loan from a bank? Under which category the bank loan is available? Can I get tax benefit while filling IT Returns?
—Firoz Pirani

Of course you can take a loan for buying a shop or office premises. Typically, such loans are much more expensive at around 11-13% as compared to 9.35%-10% for a regular home loan. The down payment requirement is also higher at 30-50%. I am assuming you will give that shop or office premises on rent. In that case, any interest payable on a loan taken to acquire office premises or shop is deductible without any limit from the rental amount earned from such property and if the result of such a deduction is a loss from such property then that loss can be set off against your salary income. If you are using the shop/office premises for the purpose of your own business you can claim the interest payable on the loan as a deduction against your business income.

Could you please let us know how to open/start online SIP per month with any specific company. I have SIP through Broker but I would like to get a feel of the online SIP.
—Umesh Yadav

There are 2 ways to do an Online SIP. Some mutual fund houses offer a facility whereby you can set an online SIP on the funds website and make the first payment online. You will need to log into your own bank's website and set the fund house as a payee with a code provided by the fund house. Then, the fund house presents the SIP instalment amount every time to your bank and it is then paid by the bank automatically subject to funds in your account. The other way is you can make the first time payment online but have to download and sign a one time mandate form (OTM) which needs to be submitted to the bank by the concerned fund house or intermediary. Several websites and most mutual fund companies offer these kinds of "online SIPs" but they are all similar in nature. Make the first payment online and download and sign and send an OTM to them for onward processing later.

How can I start investing in NPS? Does the scheme provide monthly pension to the subscriber? If so, if I invest Rs 4000 per month, after how many years of minimum contribution to the scheme can I become eligible for receipt of pension and how much would be the monthly pension receipt?
—V K Vishwanathan

You can open an NPS account by approaching any point of presence (called POP). The complete list of all POPs is given here ( https://www.npscra.nsdl.co.in/pop-sp.php). Most banks will be able to open an NPS account for you. However, the sad truth is that when you approach any bank to open an NPS account, they will invariably try and sell you a pension plan from the insurance company they have tied up with rather than the NPS account. Please insist that you want to open only an NPS account. You can also open an NPS account online by using the e-nps facility in conjunction with your mobile linked Aadhar number. The scheme does not offer any fixed pension amount. You invest money in the scheme and choose how much you want allocated to equity (maximum 50%), government securities and corporate bonds. You will also need to choose the fund manager for your money from among the approved fund managers. You will need to continue investing till you reach the age of 60 years. You can withdraw from the scheme when you reach the age of 60 years (though you have an option to stay invested till you reach 70 years). You can withdraw up to 60% of the accumulated corpus and with the balance 40% you have to buy an immediate annuity plan from any insurance company. The amount of pension you get every month will depend on the corpus amount you accumulate at that time and the rates of immediate annuity at that time.

I am senior citizen aged 68 years and a regular income tax payer. Can I join National Pension Scheme (NPS) at this age just to avail additional income tax deductions up to Rs 50,000 under section 80CC, over and above Rs 1,50,000 already available to us. If yes, please let me know where I can avail this facility, i.e. whether in banks or any other institutions. Also, what are the annual returns on such an investment, if I prefer to invest Rs 50,000 each year under the scheme.
—U R Kini

You cannot join the NPS after reaching the age of 60 years.

Harsh Roongta is a chartered accountant and Sebi-registered investment expert. Send your queries – be it on mutual funds, tax, loans or savings – to personalfinance@dnaindia.net or tweet them to @AskHarshdna