NRIWallah team
Updated October 2026
Most NRIs end up with retirement savings in more than one country: years of National Insurance in the UK, a workplace pension or a 401(k), an EPF balance from early jobs in India, perhaps NPS and NRE deposits. Each comes with its own rules on when you can draw it, how it is taxed and which currency it pays in. The calculator above puts them side by side.
When each pension starts
- UK State Pension: from 66, rising to 67 between 2026 and 2028, with a further rise to 68 planned later.
- US Social Security: from 62, with a larger payment the longer you wait, up to 70.
- NPS: from 60. Private-sector subscribers can take up to 80% of the pot as a lump sum, of which 60% is tax-free, and must use the rest to buy an annuity.
- Workplace pensions and 401(k)s: from 55 for UK pensions (rising to 57 in 2028) and from 59½ for a 401(k) without penalty.
Where you retire changes the tax
Your country of residence when you retire largely decides which country taxes each pension first, with the tax treaty between the two sorting out the rest. Returning to India can bring a few years as resident but not ordinarily resident, during which foreign income is mostly outside Indian tax; our RNOR tracker works out whether you qualify. Our guide to moving back to India covers the rest of the transition.
The frozen UK State Pension
If you retire to India, your UK State Pension never rises after you leave. At 2.5% inflation, that roughly halves its real value over 28 years, which is easy to plan around if you know about it in advance and a painful surprise if you do not.
Is it enough?
This calculator tells you what income will arrive. It does not tell you whether that covers a retirement in India, which is a different sum: the money is saved in one currency and spent in another, with two inflation rates working against it. The retire in India planner works out the corpus you need and whether your savings get you there, with healthcare modelled on its own, faster-rising cost curve.
