EPFO News: Employees’ unions have been demanding an increase in the minimum pension amount under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995 for a long time. In this regard, requests have been made by employees as well as other stakeholders. In the latest update related to this matter, MP Asaduddin Owaisi raised the question in the Lok Sabha whether the government has received any proposal to increase the minimum pension amount under EPS, 1995. He also sought details of any such proposal related to increasing the pension.
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The government gave this answer regarding increasing the minimum pension amount.
Responding to the question regarding increasing the minimum pension amount, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said that the Ministry of Labor and Employment has received a request to increase the minimum pension amount under EPS. Those requesting include stakeholders as well as trade unions.
Asaduddin Owaisi also asked whether the government has done any evaluation of these requests for increasing EPS pension, especially based on the comments made in the 30th report of the Standing Committee on Labor, Textiles and Skill Development. He also sought information about those assessments.
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Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in his reply said that “EPS, 1995 is a ‘Defined Contribution-Defined Benefit’ social security scheme. The corpus of the Employee Pension Fund is formed by (i) the contribution of 8.33 percent of the salary paid by the company every month, and (ii) the contribution of the Central Government through budgetary support at the rate of 1.16 percent of the salary up to an amount of Rs 15,000/- per month. The fund is mandatorily evaluated every year under paragraph 32 of EPS, 1995.” Apart from this, MP Asaduddin Owaisi also asked whether the government is considering providing financial resources to facilitate an increase in pension under EPS, 1995. If it is doing so, then he asked for information about it and if it is not doing so, then he asked the reason behind it. Responding to the question, the Minister of State for Finance said, “The government, for the first time in the year 2014, provided a minimum pension of Rs 1000 per month to pensioners under EPS, 1995 by providing budgetary support. And this was in addition to the budgetary support of 1.16 percent of the salary provided annually to the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) for EPS.”
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What is the minimum pension prescribed under EPS 95?
In September 2014, the Central Government announced a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month for pensioners covered under EPS, 1995. However, the Ministry of Labor sent a proposal to the Finance Ministry last year, demanding to double the minimum pension under EPS-95 to Rs 2,000 per month. But this proposal has not been approved by the Finance Ministry.
