PRAN, or Permanent Retirement Account Number, is a unique 12-digit number allotted to every individual who opens an NPS account, functioning much like a permanent ID for your retirement savings journey. It stays with you for life, regardless of how many times you change jobs, cities, or even NPS fund managers along the way.
Because PRAN is portable across employers and locations, your NPS contributions and accumulated corpus remain linked to this one number throughout your working life, making it easy to track and manage your retirement savings in a single, consolidated account rather than juggling multiple accounts. You'll need your PRAN for essentially all NPS-related transactions, including contributions, checking your balance, and eventually withdrawing your corpus at retirement.
You can check your PRAN on your NPS account statement or welcome kit, and it's the number you'll quote whenever contacting your NPS fund manager or the central record-keeping agency for any service request.