Minimum Pension - Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995

Ministry of Labour & Employment
Minimum Pension

17 DEC 2018

As regards Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995, a minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month has been prescribed with effect from 01.09.2014 for the pensioners under Employees Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995.

In the case of Atal Pension Yojana (APY), depending upon the pension plan selected, each subscriber under APY shall receive a guaranteed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month or Rs. 2000 per month or Rs. 3000 per month or Rs. 4000 per month or Rs. 5000 per month, after the age of 60 years until his/her death. If the actual returns during the accumulation phase are higher than the assumed returns for minimum guaranteed pension, such excess will be passed on to the subscriber. As such, the minimum pension depending upon the pension plan selected by the subscriber is fixed under the APY. Under National Pension System (NPS), there is no ceiling fixed for minimum pension.
Further, a High-Empowered Monitoring Committee has been constituted for complete evaluation and review of the EPS, 1995.

There is no provision for Dearness Allowance in EPS, 1995, as it is a self-funded scheme with fixed contributions. Further, Dearness Allowance is not applicable under NPS and APY as the pension under both depends upon the accumulated corpus at the time of exit which is market linked.
This information was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar Union Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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Central government employees to get Rs 9000 minimum pension: Jitendra Singh

Central government employees to get Rs 9000 minimum pension: Jitendra Singh
Minimum pension for centgral government employees has been increased to Rs9,000 per person besides a two-fold hike in ex-gratia amount

The minimum pension has been increased to Rs9,000 per person besides a two-fold hike in ex-gratia amount for central government employees, union minister Jitendra Singh said on Thursday.
Addressing the 29th meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (Scova) in the city, he said almost 88% of pension accounts have been seeded to Aadhaar. There are about 50-55 lakh pensioners in the country, said Singh, minister of state in Prime Minister’s office.

He further said that minimum pension has been increased to Rs9,000 per person and ex-gratia amount has been increased from Rs10-15 lakh to Rs25-35 lakh, as per a release issued by personnel ministry.
The Scova meeting is organised by the Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoP&PW). Singh said there is a need to put in place an institutionalised mechanism to make good use of the knowledge, experience and efforts of the retired employees which can help in the value addition to the current scenario.

He said the retired employees are a healthy and productive workforce for India and we need to streamline and channelise their energies in a productive direction. "We should learn from the pensioners’ experience," said Singh. The minister also said that the DoP&PW should be reoriented in such a way that pensioners become a part of nation building process.

Many issues related to pensioners were discussed threadbare, such as revision of Pension Payment Orders of Pre-2006 pensioners, health insurance scheme for pensioners including those residing in non-Central Government Health Service (CGHS) area and special higher family pension for widows of the war disabled invalidated out of service, etc. The meeting was attended by the member of pensioners associations and senior officers of the important departments of the central government.

PTI

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7th Pay Commission: Retired central govt employees to get minimum pension Rs 9,000

7th Pay Commission: Retired central govt employees to get minimum pension Rs 9,000

New Delhi: Retired central government employees will now get a minimum pension of Rs 9,000, up 157.14 per cent from the current Rs 3,500, following the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has issued on Thursday the Resolution and Office Memorandums the F.No 38/37/2016-P&PW(A)(i) and the F.No.38/37/2016-P&PW(A)(ii) respectively on account of acceptance of 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations for the pensioners.

The ceiling of gratuity has also been enhanced from the existing Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. The Commission had also recommended the ceiling on gratuity to be raised by 25 per cent whenever Dearness Allowance rises by 50 per cent, a proposal which has been accepted by the government.

There are about 58 lakh central government pensioners.

The amount of pension shall be subject to a minimum of Rs 9,000 and the maximum pension would be Rs 1,25,000–which is 50 per cent of the highest pay in the government, an order issued by the Ministry said.

The highest pay in the government is Rs 2,50,000 with effect from January 1, 2016.

The maximum limit of retirement gratuity and death gratuity shall be Rs 20 lakh, the order said. The ceiling on gratuity will increase by 25 per cent whenever the dearness allowance rises by 50 per cent of the basic pay, it said.

There has been a substantial increase in payment of ex-gratia lump sum compensation for civil and defence forces personnel, payable to the next of kin.

A payment of Rs 25 lakh, from existing Rs 10 lakh, will be given in case of death occurring due to accidents in course of performance of duties and those attributed to acts of violence by terrorists, anti social elements etc.

Inputs with PTI

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Provision of Minimum Pension of Rs.1000 per month the Pensioners under the Employees Pension Scheme 1995

Provision of Minimum Pension of Rs.1000 per month the Pensioners under the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 

Office Of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Central Command)
Cariappa Road, Cantt., Lucknow, Pin code – 226002

No.PT/3088/CGDA/Vol-VI

Date: 19-05-2016

To,
1. The Area Accounts Office (CC) Allahabad
2. The Area Accounts Office (CC) Kanpur
3. The Officer in-Charge Pay-I/II/III & Store Audit (Local)

Sub: Provision of Minimum Pension of Rs.1000 per month the Pensioners under the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 – publicity of.

Ref: HQr Office letter No.AT/V/DAD/15001/EPS-1995 dated 10-05-2016.

Please find enclosed a copy of Ministry of Defence. D (Civ-II) Section ID No.20(1)/2016/D (civ-II) dated 01-04-2016 received from HQr office regarding the subject matter is forwarded herewith for your information and necessary action please.
Encl: As above

sd/-
ACDA(PT)

—

Office of the Controller General Of Defence Accounts

Ulan Batar Road, Palam, Delhi Cantt. – 110010

No.AT/V/DAD/15001/EPS – 1995

Dated: 06-05-2016

To
All PCDAs/CDAs
PCDA(CC) Lucknow

Sub: Provision of Minimum Pension of Rs.1000 Per month the pensioners under the Employees pension Scheme 1995 – publicity of.

Please find enclosed a copy of Ministry of Defence, D (Civ-II) Section ID No.20(1)/2016/D (Civ-II) dated 01.04.2016 on the above mentioned subject is forwarded herewith for information and necessary action please.
Encls: As stated above.

sd/-
Rajesh Sharm
S.A.O. (AT/P)

—–

Ministry Of Defence
D(Civ-II) section

Subject: Provision of Minimum Pension of Rs.1000 Per month the Pensioners under the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995 – publicity of

The Employees Provident Funds & Misc Provision (EPF&MP) Act gives the framework for operating three important social security schemes for the workers of the country. These Schemes are (i) The Employees Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme 1952; (ii) The Employees Pension Scheme (EPS) 1995; and (iii) The Employees Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme, 1976. Under the provisions of the Employees pension scheme, 1995, pension security is provided for the employees who joined on or after 16.11.1995. In order to provide a bare minimum amount as pension which may help towards social security of EPS Pensioners, the Govt had started providing a minimum pension of Rs.1000/- p.m. to the pensioners under the scheme initially form 1.9.2014 for the year 2014-15.

sd/-
(Gurdeep Singh)
Under Secretary

—

Ministry Of Defence (Finance)
DAD – Coord

Room No.24-A, south Block, New Delhi

Sub: Provision of Minimum Pension of Rs.1000 Per month the Pensioners under the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995 – publicity of.

A copy of Ministry of Defence D(Civ-II) Id bearing No.20(1)/2016/D(Civ-II) dated 01.04.2016 on the above mentioned subject is forwarded herewithfor information and necessary action please.

sd/-
(Rajesh Kalia)
SO (DAD Coord)

Source: http://pcdacc.gov.in/

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Minimum Pension – Ministry of Labour & Employment

Minimum Pension – Ministry of Labour & Employment

Minimum Pension

The Government has notified a minimum pension of Rs. 1000/- per month to the pensioners under Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995 vide Notification No. G.S.R. 593 (E), dated 19th August, 2014 effective from 01.09.2014 for the year 2014-15 which is continued beyond March, 2015 without any break.

However, no proposal is under consideration of the Government at present for providing inflation-linked Dearness Allowance (DA) to pensioners of EPS, 1995. The issue of index-linking of pension by fully neutralizing inflation was considered by the Expert Committee constituted by the Government in the year 2009 for review of EPS, 1995 and the same was found not feasible in the case of a funded scheme like EPS, 1995 wherein the contribution of the employer and Government is at a fixed rate of 8.33 per cent and 1.16 per cent respectively. Therefore, the value of benefits cannot be left open-ended by linking it with inflation which is variable.

This information given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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EPS pensioners assured of minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month

EPS pensioners assured of minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month

Press Information Bureau,
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment

12-May, 2015

EPS pensioners assured of minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month

EPFO settles 11.77 lakh claims in April 2015: 77% of EPF claims settled within 10 days.

The Employees Provident Fund Organisation(EPFO) has settled 11.77 lakh claims were settled in the month of April itself. This fact emerged while reviewing the performance of EPFO in the first month of the new financial year 2015-16. According to Shri K.K. Jalan, CPFC showing an improvement in the time taken for settlement, 48% of the claims were settled within 03 days and 77% were settled within 10 days. More than 15 crore annual accounts were updated in the first two working days of the financial year which is a historical first and this was made possible by the adoption of new updated software by the organization.

A decision was also taken regarding continuation of minimum pension of Rs 1000 to the pensioners of EPS, 1995 on a perpetual basis. This move is expected to benefit more than 19 lakh pensioners who would otherwise draw less than Rs. 1000 as pension under EPS, 1995.

Grievance redressal continued to be given top most priority. More than 14,000 grievances were settled in the month of April leaving a balance of 3,354 grievances pending. Of these more than three-fourths were pending for less than 15 days. As grievance monitoring is being done at the highest level in the government under PRAGATI programme, comprehensive guidelines were also issued to further minimize the number of pending grievances.

A conference of the ten Zonal Addl. CPFCs also took place in last month. Several important decisions directly affecting the working of the organization were taken. Top priority is to be accorded to activation of UAN and also to activate e-life certificate, “Jeevan Praman Patra” for EPS pensioners.Use of e-governance tools has to be adopted in all functional areas including compliance management. This would help the organization in better monitoring and also foster a conducive compliance environment It was also decided to initiate efforts for making the members’ passbook on the portal, available in vernacular languages also, for the benefit and convenience of the PF subscribers.

***

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Minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month in perpetuity to Pensioners of Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995

Minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month in perpetuity to Pensioners of Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for continuation of the minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month to the pensioners of Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS) beyond the financial year 2014-15 on perpetual basis. Currently, it is effective only upto March, 2015. The Cabinet also approved corresponding grant of continuous annual budgetary support for implementing the minimum pension which will be to the tune of Rs. 850 crore per year on a tapering basis.

Providing a minimum pension of Rs. 1000/- per month is an effort to provide meaningful subsistence to pensioners who have served in the organized sector. The present proposal is likely to benefit approximately 20 lakh pensioners under EPS, 1995.

Background:
A large number of member pensioners under the EPS, 1995 receive low pensions which is not commensurate with the growing cost of living. The primary reason behind a meager pension is that it is calculated on the basis of pensionable service and average of last sixty months’ wages. If either of them is low, the pension amount will also be low. This is largely seen in cases of employees of seasonal industries. Further, pensioners who were earlier members of the erstwhile Family Pension Scheme, 1971 have been given past service benefits for determining pension as per Para 12 of the Employees’ Pension Scheme. This has resulted in fixation of low pension for these pensioners.

The Union Cabinet has in its meeting in February, 2014 accorded approval to the proposal for ensuring a minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month for the pensioners of EPS for the financial year 2014-15 by way of providing budgetary support of Rs. 1217.03 crore. Based on the approval of the Union Cabinet, the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS) was amended on 19.08.2014 to incorporate the provision for providing a minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- per month for the financial year 2014-15.

After the issue of the Gazette Notification dated 19.08.2014 (with effect from 01-09-2014), the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has commenced disbursing the revised pension from the month of September, 2014. The number of pensioners who have been benefited by the minimum pension provision, which has been compiled from the actual disbursement of pension made by the offices of EPFO after the implementation of the notification, is according to the table below:

Month	Number of Pensioners affected	Amount as per original pension (Rs. Crore)	Amount paid after Minimum Pension Notification (Rs. Crore)	GOI support
September 2014	19,19,756	104.17	165.98	61.81
October 2014	19,32,515	104.14	166.99	62.84
November 2014	19,42,476	104.69	168.18	63.49
December 2014	19,47,750	106.73	170.68	63.95
January 2015	15,13,827	94.72	148.75	54.03
February 2015	16,80,533	103.00	160.15	57.15
March 2015	17,65,307	99.25	158.39	59.13

Source: PIB News

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Dedication of Portability through Universal Account Number (UAN) for Employees Provident Fund

“The minimum pension for employees has been introduced first time so that employees’ pension is not less than Rs. 1000 per month. The wage ceiling has been raised from Rs. 6500 to Rs. 15000 per month to ensure that vulnerable groups are covered under EPF Scheme”.

Under the scheme complete information for approximately 4 crore subscribers of EPF has been centrally compiled and digitized and a UAN has been allotted to all. The UAN is being seeded with Bank account and Aadhar Card and other KYC details for financial inclusion of vulnerable section of society and their unique identification.

Camps are being organized to facilitate opening of bank account and Aadhar card for those subscribers who have no bank account or Aadhar card as on date. This will ensure portability of the Social Security Benefits to the labour of organised sector across the jobs and geographic areas. The EPF account of employee will be now be updated monthly and at the same time he will be informed through sms.

Finally it will ensure that each of the 4 crore or more EPF account holders have direct access to their EPF accounts and will also enable them to consolidate all their previous accounts (approximately Rs 27000 Crore are currently lying with EPFO in inoperative accounts). By 16th October, 2014, approximately 2 crore subscribers will have the benefit of portability through UAN. Subscribers have been informed through sms/email immediately on inauguration.

The minimum pension for employees has been introduced first time so that employees’ pension is not less than Rs. 1000 per month. The wage ceiling has been raised from Rs. 6500 to Rs. 15000 per month to ensure that vulnerable groups are covered under EPF Scheme.

Source: PIB News

#Employees Provident Fund, #Minimum Pension, #Provident Fund, #Indian Government News,  #EPFO

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Launching of Minimum Pension Scheme (Rs.1000) across 120 locations in India

Labour Minister Shri Tomar announces launch of Minimum Pension Scheme across 120 locations in India

37 Union Ministers to felicitate pensioners on September 30

The Union Minister of Labour & Employment, Steel and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar announced the launch of a guaranteed minimum pension of Rs 1000 per month under Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995. Speaking to journalists at a press conference in here today, he said, the Union Government has decided to organize functions in every office of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation spread across 120 locations in the country. It has also been decided that in 37 locations, Union Ministers will preside over the functions and felicitate the pensioners whose pension is getting increased.

Shri Tomar stated that this is being done to interact with the pensioners and to ensure that no eligible person is left out. He expressed confidence that this interaction will help the EPFO to design its pension re-engineering process in a better way. The Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Smt Gauri Kumar and Central PF Commissioner Shri K.K. Jalan were also present on the occasion.

The Minister said that the long-pending demand for increase in the pension will soon see the light of day. At present, a large number of pensioners are getting only paltry amounts as pension under the scheme. Nearly two-thirds of the pensioners are in receipt of pension of less than 1000 rupees. Thus, this move would benefit approximately 32 lakh out of a total of 49 lakh pensioners who are getting below Rs 1000 as pension, he added.

It is relevant to note that the wage ceiling for coverage under the three schemes of EPFO i.e. Employees Provident Fund Scheme, Employees’ Pension Scheme and Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI) has also been increased from monthly Rs 6500 to Rs 15000. This increased wage ceiling is expected to bring in an additional 50 lakh employees under the ambit of these social security programmes. The increased wage ceiling will also result into higher benefit under the EDLI from a maximum of Rs.1,30,000 to a maximum of Rs 3,60,000.

In the recent past EPFO has taken a series of measures to bring in greater transparency and efficiency in its functioning. These include the facility for online registration of establishments (OLRE), Online Transfer Claim Portal (OTCP), e-passbook and electronic payment of PF and Pension benefits through NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer) and CBS (Core Banking Solution).

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Wage ceiling for EPF raised to Rs.15,000: Minimum Monthly Pension and wage ceiling hiked by EPFO

Minimum Monthly Pension and wage ceiling hiked by EPFO

Wage ceiling for EPF raised to Rs.15,000

The much-awaited minimum monthly pension of Rs.1,000 and a higher wage ceiling of Rs.15,000 for social security schemes run by retirement fund manager Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) will be implemented from September 1.

The government’s decision to fix pension entitlement of Rs.1,000 under the Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995 (EPFS-95) will immediately benefit 28 lakh pensioners who get less than this amount at present. The move to enhance the minimum wage ceiling for becoming a subscriber of the EPFO to Rs.15,000 a month is expected to bring 50 lakh additional formal sector workers under the ambit of the body.

“The government has notified enhancement of wage ceiling to Rs.15,000 per month, fixed minimum monthly pension at Rs.1,000 under EPS-95 and enhanced the maximum sum assured under the Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme to Rs.3 lakh,” EPFO’s Central Provident Fund Commission K. K. Jalan told PTI.

Mr. Jalan said: “Now the maximum sum assured under the EDLI works out to be Rs.3.60 lakh, including 20 per cent ad hoc benefit over the prescribed amount under the notification.” This means that in case an EPFO subscriber dies, his family will be entitled to a maximum sum assured of Rs.3.60 lakh instead of existing Rs.1.56 lakh.

Mr. Jalan said the notification regarding minimum pension, wage ceiling and EDLI would be effected from September 1. Thus all pensioners getting less than Rs 1,000 per month would get at least this much pension from October.

Source: The Hindu
http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/minimum-pension-of-rs-1000-under-epfo-wage-ceiling-up-at-rs-15000/article6359907.ece

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Hike contribution to raise minimum pension: EPFO to Government

Hike contribution to raise minimum pension: EPFO to Government


Retirement fund body EPFO has made a case for increase in Government’s contribution to its pension scheme EPS-95 to 1.79 per cent of basic wages from existing 1.16 per cent for ensuring Rs 1,000 per month to pensioners.

“…it is believed that there is a strong case for increasing the government’s contribution from 1.16 per cent to 1.79 per cent to the EPS—95 (Employees Pension Scheme—1995) fund to support a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month for all categories of EPF-95 pensioners,” EPFO said in a letter to Labour Ministry.

According to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO), additional contribution of 0.63 per cent of workers’ basic wages to EPS—95 is required to pay minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month to all categories of pensioners.

Now, the Labour Ministry would have to take up the issue with Finance Ministry for the purpose.

In the present scenario, Central Government contributes 1.16 per cent of workers’ basic wages (basic pay plus dearness allowance), towards EPS—95 fund. During 2012-13, government contributed around Rs 1,900 crore towards the EPS-95 fund which also includes some arrears.

The official estimates indicate that if the Central Government decides to increase its contribution to 1.79 per cent of the workers’ basic wages, then they would have to pay additional amount of Rs 750 crore to Rs 800 crore during this fiscal. This additional contribution would further increase to Rs 1,400 crore by 2018-19.

However, EPFO is batting for increase in the government’s contribution as neither the workers nor employers want to pay the additional 0.63 per cent of workers’ basic wages to ensure minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month under the scheme.

The hike in contribution will be over-and-above the 8.33 per cent contributed by employers toward the pension account of employees, as well as the 1.16 per cent provided by the government under the scheme.

According to EPFO data, as of March 31, 2010, there were 35 lakh pensioners subscribed to the retirement fund body, of which 14 lakh persons get a monthly pension of less than Rs 500.

The number of EPFO pensioners getting a monthly pension of Rs 1,000 is 7 lakh. The data revealed there were cases where pensioners are getting a monthly pension as low as Rs 12 and Rs 38.

Source: Business Line via CGN

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