Pension In India

The government has announced setting up of a four-member committee to review the National Pension Scheme (NPS)

As many as 1,20,279 persons have applied online to opt for higher pension under Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) till March 9, 2023, Parliament was informed on Thursday. In November last year, the Supreme Court had asked the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to give four months time to subscribers as well as pensioners to contribute on their actual salaries towards EPS-95. Many EPFO subscribers have been contributing on threshold (pensionable salary) of Rs 15,000 per month which is less than their actual pay. This option will enable beneficiaries to get higher pension eventually. "Till 09.03.2023, 1,20,279 applications/ joint options were applied online at Unified Portal of EPFO by the employees," Minister of State for Labour and Employment Rameswar Teli said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. The total number of beneficiaries in accordance with the directions given in the Supreme Court judgement of November 4, 2022 will depend upon the employees exercising the

Concerned over revival of Old Pension Scheme by certain Opposition-ruled states, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Monday said unfunded pension schemes are ultimately attacks on future generations. Sanyal further said given the current stress in the global economy and the repeated downgrades done to the world GDP growth numbers by international agencies, it is quite obvious that 2023 will also be a difficult period. "It should be very clear that unfunded pension schemes are ultimately attacks on future generations. Therefore, one should be very, very careful to reverse pension reforms that have been done with great difficulty over the last couple of decades," he told PTI in an interview. Sanyal was responding to a question on some Opposition-ruled states' decision to switch to Old Pension Scheme (OPS). The OPS, under which the entire pension amount was given by the government, was discontinued by the NDA government in 2003 from April

PFRDA had launched the online partial withdrawal facility in January 2021 to help subscribers cope with the Covid-19 pandemic

There is no proposal under the Central government's consideration to restore the old pension scheme, the Parliament was told on Monday

Old pension scheme: Is politics trumping economics?

The pension reform had the backing of both BJP and Congress. Now, the political parties are using it as a tool to gain power in certain states. While this may be good politics, is it good economics?

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday said that the state cabinet has approved the reimplementation of the old pension scheme, which was discontinued in 2004. In another decision of the cabinet, a meeting of which was held here under his chairmanship, Mann said a notification to fix sugarcane rate at Rs 380 per quintal has also been approved. Asked about the Old Pension Scheme, Mann, who was addressing a news conference after the cabinet meeting, said, "OPS has been approved by the cabinet. Details will be given. Many employees will be benefited under the old pension scheme. Notification has been issued." The old pension scheme, under which the entire pension amount was given by the government, was discontinued in the country from April 1, 2004. In the cabinet meeting held nearly a month ago, the Punjab government had decided to restore the scheme for its employees, which has been their major demand. State Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema had last month said employees

Any EPF pensioner can get the PPO number using either the bank account number or PF number

Mercer CFS Global Pension Index pointed out that the country needs to strengthen its regulatory framework and boost the coverage under private pension arrangements

Some governments are seeking short-term benefits to finance their bills, risking their financial security

Only those investors who remain invested for 10 years will get a guaranteed return and if the actual return falls below the assured amount, pension fund managers shall bridge the gap

Reverting to OPS is being considered an easier option from a political standpoint, but could financially stress the states

The EPFO has almost 60 million subscribers and it has a cumulative pension and provident fund corpus of more than Rs 12 trillion

Committee set up by pension regulator to consider suggestions made by consultant for scheme

Social security scheme should reach the poor and underprivileged, says official

Over Rs 2.54 lakh crore was spent on nearly 70 lakh central government pensioners during 2021-22, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. There were 69,76,240 pensioners and family pensioners 11,28,441 civil pensioners, 36,03,609 defence pensioners (including armed forces pensioners), 4,32,968 telecom pensioners, 14,82,223 railway pensioners and 3,28,999 postal pensioners, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply. Total expenditure incurred on these pensioners was Rs 2,54,284.4 crore during the financial year 2021-22, he said.

Pension is growing faster than the salaries of state employees, accounted for a third of revenue expenditure by armed forces in 2013-14 and 2020-21

After the Congress in Rajasthan announced that the old pension scheme will be implemented again in state and appointments made on or after January 1, 2004 will benefit, has opened a political debate

The scores of 11 countries, including India and South Korea, slipped this year as the world battles to limit the economic fallout from the Covid-19 crisis.

The Indian pension system ranked 40th on overall index ranking out of 43 systems, and had the lowest rank in the adequacy sub-index, according to a study