New Delhi, July 28 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that 7,253 claims under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) have been received, out of which 4,978 claims have been processed for payment of benefits (as on July 20).
As per the eligibility criteria, there are 25,756 retired Central government subscribers eligible to receive additional benefits under UPS, the minister informed the Parliament.
"These eligible subscribers are those Central government employees who have either superannuated or deceased or retired under Fundamental Rules 56 (j), on or before March 31, 2025, after completing 10 years or more of qualifying service and were covered under National Pension System (NPS)," she said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
UPS has been introduced as an option under NPS for the employees of the Central government who are covered under the NPS.
There is no proposal under consideration to extend such benefits to other pension schemes or sectors, according to the minister.
Based on the representations from employees and associations, the cut-off date to opt for UPS was extended for a period of three months up to September 30, 2025.
The government has extended the benefit of 'Retirement gratuity and Death gratuity' under the provisions of the Central Civil Service (Payment of Gratuity under National Pension System) Rules, 2021, to the Central government employees covered by UPS.
The minister informed that the government employees who opt for UPS under NPS shall also be eligible for the option to avail benefits under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 or the CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023, in the event of death of the Government servant during service or his discharge on the ground of invalidation or disablement.
"The government has also extended tax benefits to UPS as are available to NPS under the Income Tax Act, 1961," she mentioned in her reply.
Earlier this month, the Finance Ministry announced that the tax benefits available under the NPS will apply "mutatis mutandis" to the UPS, as it is an option under the former. The measure aims to provide further impetus to the UPS. These provisions ensure parity with the existing NPS structure and provide substantial tax relief and incentives to employees opting for the UPS.
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