புதிய பென்ஷன் திட்டத்தில் மாறுதல் - 50% சம்பளம் பென்ஷனாக கிடைக்கும் வகையில் தற்போதைய திட்டத்தில் மாற்றம் கொண்டு வர மத்திய அரசு முடிவு

புதிய பென்ஷன் திட்டத்தில் மாறுதல். 50% சம்பளம் பென்ஷனாக கிடைக்கும் வகையில் தற்போதைய திட்டத்தில் மாற்றம் கொண்டு வர மத்திய அரசு முடிவு - Transition to new pension scheme - Central government has decided to bring a change in the current scheme so that 50% of salary is available as pension

TO AVERT SETBACK FROM SHIFT TO OPS Govt may sweeten new pension plan

Guaranteed pension of 50% last-drawn salary

With demand growing for the old pension system (OPS) with assured benefits, the Centre and some state governments are exploring ways to salvage pension reforms, by treading a middle path between the fiscally-expensive OPS and the reform-oriented National Pension System (NPS).

One option being considered is to offer guaranteed pension to government staff at around 50% of the last pay drawn under the NPS by tweaking the existing scheme without burdening the exchequer too much. While OPS is based on the concept of defined benefits, the principle that underlie NPS is defined contribution. Currently, under the NPS, also called new pension scheme, 60% of the accumulated corpus from contributions during a person’s working years is allowed to be withdrawn at the time of retirement. Such withdrawal is also tax-free. The balance 40% is invested in annuities, which according to an estimate, could provide a pension equivalent of about 35% of the last pay drawn. However, it is not a guaranteed pension as returns are linked to markets.

Officials reckon that the NPS could be revised in such a way that at the time of retirement, an employee gets back her contribution of roughly 41.7% (built from a contribution of 10% of pay) as a lump sum amount.

“An analysis showed that if the balance 58.3% corpus built from the central/state government contribution (14%) is annuatised, the pension in NPS could be around 50% of last drawn salary,” an official aware of the deliberations in the government said. If actual returns work out to be less than the guaranteed amount, the gap could be bridged by the government concerned by contributing a little more to NPS, the official added.

The only problem with this model is unlike in OPS, which revises pension upward periodically to adjust for inflation and increments due to future Pay Commission awards, it would be a tricky job under NPS as the corpus for pension would remain constant, post-retirement.