New Delhi: The finance ministry on Monday extended the cut-off date for exercising option by government employees under Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) by three months till September 30.
Earlier, the eligible employees including the present ones, retirees, and spouses of deceased retirees, were given three-month time up to June 30 to exercise their option under the scheme.
In view of the representations received from various stakeholders requesting an extension, the Centre has decided to extend the cut-off date for exercising the option for UPS by three months till September 2025, the finance ministry said in a statement.
UPS is applicable to the central government employees who are covered under the National Pension System (NPS) and who choose this option under the NPS, which came into effect on January 1, 2004.
The option can be exercised by 23 lakh government employees to choose between UPS and NPS.
On August 24, 2024, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the UPS.
Under the old pension scheme (OPS), which ended in January 2004, employees got 50 per cent of their last drawn basic pay as pension.
The effective date for operationalisation of the UPS would be April 1, 2025.
Unlike the OPS, UPS is contributory in nature, wherein employees will be required to contribute 10 per cent of their basic salary and dearness allowance while the employer’s contribution (the central government) will be 18.5
per cent.
However, the eventual payout depends on the market returns on that corpus, mostly invested in government debt.